Validating DDoS attacks based on social media content

摘要

A method of validating a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack against a computer providing a network service comprises : monitoring requests to the service ; monitoring social media for current trending topics or popular items to detect content directly linked to content located on the computer or directly related to content located on the computer; and responsive to the monitoring step indicating an increased number of requests and said step of monitoring social media indicating that such content is currently trending or popular, determining the computer is not the subject of a DDOS attack, and instead modifying the response provided to such requests so as to avoid overloading the network service. Also disclosed is analyzing one or more referral URLs to detect social media referrals and again modifying the response provided to such referrals to avoid overload. The modifications could include providing more resources, streamlining the requested content or throttling the rate of response.