Gaming and e-Sports Have Upped the Demand on Your Network: Discover the Impact of Latency and DDoS

Latency

Latency is the delay in network communication and indicates the quality of your connection. For a gamer, this is the time it takes for data to travel from their device to the game server. According to industry standards, latency under 100ms is considered acceptable. However, gamers will tell you that anything above 70ms is unacceptable and that the ideal latency is between 0-40ms. While providers typically measure their latency from themselves to Internet exchanges, gamers add in the additional measure from their exact place of play to the game server. This gives them a unique advantage when searching for network speed – they know their end goal better than the average internet customer.

DDoS Attacks and Mitigation

A common DDoS attack is typically initiated when one gamer wants to eliminate competitors from on-line access. When initiated, bots begin to tear down the connection surrounding one specific IP address, thus preventing that individual from being able to access the network. While the elimination of a few gamers may not sound catastrophic, the effect of the attack is never isolated to one address. It can spread across the network quickly and remove every customer from online access as enormous bandwidth is consumed.

DDoS attacks are more common than most broadband providers realize. With proper protocol in place, you can implement a strong defense against any oncoming attacks and keep your customers online with no indication of a disruption. Instead of waiting for an inevitable attack, providers should secure their networks before a gamer-to-gamer dispute results in dropped connections and widespread customer frustration. So, what can you do to secure your network and mitigate potential disaster? Be proactive, not reactive when it comes to securing your network.

Recently, a client of ours had their first game-related DDoS attack. The mission of the attack was common, get the opponent offline. Luckily, we had been working with our client to secure their network, and the attack went unnoticed by their customers. Once the attack was launched, their mitigation plan immediately took over. At the first indication of the oncoming attack, their affected customers were automatically moved to a separate upstream while the network was combed and cleaned. Once the network was clear, users were then moved back over. All of this occurred without any impact on the customer. Every customer remained online and unaware of the attack that could have pulled them offline. This demonstrates how important it is to evaluate your network for any security gaps and create and implement appropriate security and mitigation plans.

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