On December 5, 2012, Public Interest Registry, the nonprofit operator of the .ORG top-level domain and long-term advocate for collaboration, safety and security on the Internet, moderated an expert panel on “Mitigating DDoS Attacks: Best Practices for an Evolving Threat Landscape.”

The panel, which included representatives from Symantec, Afilias, Google, Neustar, VeriSign and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, explored DDoS trends, how targeted entities address such attacks, and unintended consequences from both the threats and the responses. The panel debated mitigation options, who bears responsibility for “doing something” about DDoS attacks, and the challenges of working together to confront this global dilemma.

While there was agreement that no “silver bullet” exists to thwart DDoS attacks, the panelists did offer a number of recommendations. They also recognized the need for greater awareness of the problem and how to deal with it. A survey commissioned by Public Interest Registry—reported here on CircleID—before the event indicated that 85 percent of Americans are uninformed or ill-equipped to deal with DDoS attacks; anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that this is a worldwide challenge. Ultimately, industry, government and civil society will need to collaborate more or continue to be victimized by DDoS attacks.

Below is the recording of the event and the panel discussion:

Mitigating DDoS Attacks: Best Practices for an Evolving Threat Landscape – Presented by the Public Interest Registry (PIR), Internet Society’s New York Chapter (ISOC-NY) and the New York Technology Council (NYTECH) at the AMA Executive Conference Center NYC on December 5 2012.

MODERATOR
Brian Cute – CEO, Public Interest Registry (PIR)

SPEAKERS
Jeff Greene – Senior Policy Counsel, Symantec
Ram Mohan – EVP & Chief Technology Officer, Afilias
Damian Menscher – Security Engineer, Google
Miguel Ramos – Senior Product Manager, Neustar
Danny McPherson – Chief Security Officer, Verisign
Jillian York – Director for International Freedom of Expression, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)