This presentation examines the evolving nature of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks as tools of hybrid warfare and proposes a collaborative European defense strategy. We provide analysis of how DDoS attacks have transformed from mere technical nuisances, to potentially disturbing tools which can cause major disruption illustrated by the attacks in 2018, to strategic weapons wielded by proxies of state actors today.
The presentation establishes the geopolitical context of modern DDoS campaigns, demonstrating how they are timed to coincide with international tensions and deliberately target critical infrastructure to maximize societal disruption. We debunk the dangerous myth that DDoS attacks are “harmless” by examining their economic, social, and democratic impacts.
Central to our argument is the recognition that DDoS defense can no longer be treated as an individual organizational problem but requires collective action. We identify European digital sovereignty vulnerabilities created by reliance on non-European security solutions and outline a comprehensive framework for a pan-European DDoS defense network.
The proposed solution includes establishing a coordinated response center, developing standardized threat data exchange protocols, and creating European-based traffic scrubbing infrastructure. We highlight the importance of edge-based mitigation such as being developed under the IPCEI-CIS program and detail technical integration requirements across European digital infrastructure.
The presentation concludes with a call to action that emphasizes scaling successful models like the NL-anti DDoS coalition throughout Europe, and developing open-source European mitigation tools.
