Source URL: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/identity-security/project-shield-expands-free-ddos-protection/
Source: Cloud Blog
Title: Project Shield expands free DDoS protection to even more organizations and nonprofits
Feedly Summary: Project Shield has helped news, human rights, and elections-related organizations defend against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks since 2013 as part of Google’s commitment to keep online content universally accessible. The solution has helped keep election resources online, supported news reporting during pivotal geopolitical events, and helped governments during times of urgency.
We are pleased to announce that Project Shield is expanding our eligibility criteria to support and protect organizations representing marginalized groups and non-profit organizations supporting the arts and sciences. These types of organizations are often subject to attacks and censorship attempts, and DDoS represents a common component of these attacks. Now with Project Shield, these newly eligible organizations can protect their websites against DDoS attacks free of charge.
The same technologies that protect Google
Project Shield is built on top of Google Cloud Networking and our global front-end solution. Operated by Google Cloud in partnership with Jigsaw, it integrates the global front-end with Google Cloud Load Balancing, Cloud CDN, and Cloud Armor. This solution and the underlying products work together to mitigate attacks, cache your content, and serve it from multiple points on Google’s edge network.
This protection is built on the same infrastructure and maintained by the same teams that protect Google’s core services, including Search, Maps, and Gmail.
Each of the solutions that comprise Project Shield plays an important role in protecting our customers. Google Cloud Load Balancing serves your traffic from Google’s global network, and can increase your performance while allowing scalable global traffic controls. Doing so can help users all over the world connect to your site more quickly and reliably. Once your traffic is being served by a Cloud Load Balancer, Project Shield can engage additional defenses, such as Cloud Armor and Cloud CDN.
Cloud Armor mitigates attack traffic at the edge of Google’s infrastructure, so your website stays safe and online, regardless of the backend location. Adaptive Protection uses machine learning to analyze your traffic to find and mitigate attacks, using the same defenses that protect our largest enterprise customers.
Project Shield employs tailored rate limits that are custom-tuned to your site, enhancing protection without blocking real users or search engines visiting your site. These defenses are enabled proactively and kick in quickly when malicious traffic is detected, often banning attackers within the first few seconds.
Cloud CDN provides caching, giving your backend a break by allowing traffic to resolve at Google’s network edge. This can help defend against broad, shallow DDoS attacks, where millions of attackers each send what looks like a normal amount of traffic. Cacheable content from your website can reach users faster, and lower the burden on your hosting servers. During legitimate surges, such as your site going viral, or on a big event like election day, caching can dramatically reduce the load on your servers and help keep your website online.
These services are directly available to any organization through the Google Cloud console, and can be set up and customized to protect any type of workload, not just those eligible for Project Shield. Organizations that are not eligible for Project Shield can still take advantage of the same Cloud Networking technologies that power Project Shield with this guide.
Get protected today
DDoS is a looming threat, and capable of taking down your service, with no special access or compromise required. We encourage organizations from any of the eligible categories for Project Shield to sign up at g.co/shield. Application review usually takes a few hours (but can potentially stretch to a few business days). Approved organizations can configure Project Shield protection for their sites in just a few minutes.
Other organizations can learn more about getting started with enterprise Google Cloud Networking services, and can get set up with a load balancer and protection today.
AI Summary and Description: Yes
Summary: Project Shield, by Google, provides free DDoS protection to news, human rights, and arts organizations, expanding eligibility to support marginalized groups. Leveraging Google Cloud’s infrastructure, it not only safeguards websites against DDoS attacks but enhances performance, ensuring accessibility during critical events.
Detailed Description:
Project Shield is a significant initiative by Google aimed at protecting vital online resources from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, particularly for organizations operating in sensitive areas such as news, human rights, and elections. Launched in 2013, the project underlines Google’s commitment to maintaining universal accessibility to online content.
Key insights and components of Project Shield include:
– **Expansion of Eligibility**: Initially focused on certain organizations, Project Shield is now extending its support to marginalized groups and non-profits in the arts and sciences, recognizing their increased vulnerability to cyber attacks and censorship.
– **Free Protection from DDoS Attacks**: The newly eligible organizations can access DDoS protection at no cost, significantly lowering barriers for smaller entities that may lack adequate cybersecurity resources.
– **Foundation on Google Cloud Infrastructure**: Project Shield runs on Google’s robust cloud networking services. It integrates multiple technologies such as:
– **Google Cloud Load Balancing**: Enhances traffic performance and reliability.
– **Cloud CDN (Content Delivery Network)**: Caches content at the network edge to reduce server load and fast-track user access.
– **Cloud Armor**: Provides attack mitigation by filtering out malicious traffic at the edge of Google’s infrastructure.
– **Use of Machine Learning**: The integration of machine learning within Project Shield allows for adaptive protection. It proactively analyzes incoming traffic to identify and counteract DDoS attacks swiftly.
– **Proactive Defense Mechanism**: Project Shield features tailored rate limits, ensuring that genuine users are not affected even during an attack, often banning malicious actors within seconds of detection.
– **Ease of Access for Organizations**: Any organization can apply for Project Shield through the Google Cloud console, with a straightforward setup process to activate the protection, even for those outside the eligibility criteria for free services.
– **Encouragement of Registration**: The initiative highlights the urgent need for organizations to secure their services against the growing threat of DDoS attacks, emphasizing that sign-up and configuration can be accomplished quickly.
In summary, Project Shield is a strategic tool that not only helps mitigate DDoS threats but also enhances the overall performance and reliability of websites, particularly for organizations that play crucial roles in society, thereby fostering a more secure online ecosystem. This initiative is particularly relevant for professionals in cloud security, as it presents a model for protective services that can be applied across various sectors dealing with sensitive information or social issues.