In the current threat landscape, it is no longer a matter of if, but when an organization will face a DDoS attack. When that moment inevitably arrives, the difference between a minor inconvenience and a major disruption often comes down to the quality and speed of your security response team.
At Fastly, our powerful DDoS Protection solution provides automatic protection, and with one-click enablement, you can be protected in seconds. For most scenarios, this is more than sufficient, but for customers who want specialized or dedicated assistance, Fastly’s Customer Security Operations Center (CSOC) provides comprehensive security services.
Below, we’re pulling back the curtain on how Fastly steps in when a customer comes under attack - so you can see the Fastly difference for yourself.
When Minutes Matter
When a security event hits, every minute counts. Fastly's CSOC operates under a 15-minute response time SLA for critical incidents, but our median first-response time is just one minute.
Even more importantly, our rapid response comes from an actual human, not an automated ticket notification or a chatbot. Throughout our response, humans are involved at every step, augmented by powerful and intelligent tools. Whether our customers need a live call, specially tailored workflows, or any additional assistance during high-stress incidents, we meet them where they are. Our human touch allows for customers to get the level of personalized care and attention they need, without the challenges and frustrations often associated with automated communication and support.
Fastly’s CSOC Approach
To give you more insight into how our CSOC response works, we laid out our exact process below:
Step 1: Identifying the Attack Fingerprint
The moment we detect an attack through our monitoring systems, our team gets to work isolating the attack fingerprint. This involves analyzing traffic spikes targeting the affected service and identifying the specific attributes that distinguish malicious traffic from legitimate requests. This could be a single attribute or multiple attributes working in concert.
Our analysts leverage Fastly's internal tooling to compare these patterns against traffic across our entire global network. This added layer of intelligence provides additional depth of analysis and insight we can pass along to our customers.
This collective visibility is made possible thanks to our massive, globally distributed edge network. Our insights into attack patterns across our network help us to provide the most comprehensive defenses for all of our customers.
Step 2: Rapid, Collaborative Mitigation
Once the attack traffic is identified, mitigation begins. This is not a standardized process - instead, our team works directly with customers to confirm findings and validate traffic.
This collaborative approach ensures we don't inadvertently block legitimate traffic while neutralizing the threat. For straightforward attacks, this can often be handled efficiently via a support case. For more complex scenarios, our analysts join live calls to walk customers through every step of the process.
Step 3: Rapid, Sustained Response
DDoS attacks aren't always one-and-done: Sophisticated attackers often pivot their tactics once their initial approach is blocked. Fastly customers can rest easy knowing that we remain involved in the incident response throughout its duration. If it is a persistent attack - where an attacker realizes they've been blocked and pivots - we stay with the customer and continue our mitigation efforts.
For some of our Managed Security Services (MSS) customers, we've supported weeks-long campaigns against persistent DDoS or account-takeover (ATO) attacks.
Our mitigation strategy is to operate as an extension of our customers’ teams - we are equally invested in successful and complete mitigation, no matter how long it takes.
Follow-the-Sun Coverage
Fastly's CSOC operates on a follow-the-sun model, with specialized analysts and engineers stationed globally. When a shift ends in one location, the incoming team is fully briefed on active incidents and ready to continue mitigation efforts seamlessly.
This model ensures customers receive the full power of Fastly’s security response capabilities and expertise. With no downtime and no breakdowns in communication or responsibility, you get constant, uninterrupted mitigation support - even when you're under attack at 3 AM on a holiday weekend.
Product Intelligence That Benefits Everyone
Beyond providing exceptional emergency response, CSOC is deeply integrated with our broader security research and product teams. The intelligence gathered from every attack directly informs our security product strategy, creating a continuous feedback loop that strengthens defenses across our entire customer base.
This means that every incident we handle makes Fastly's platform smarter and more resilient. Even customers who haven't experienced an attack directly benefit from the lessons learned.
Real Stories, Real Results
Don’t just take our word for it - here is what recent customer engagements looked like, from the customers’ perspectives:
Executive-level partnership: A sports data company facing a severe DDoS attack moved from initial contact to full mitigation and executive sign-off in record time. Their feedback: "This wouldn't have been possible without CSOC stepping in."
Rapid response: When a major attack spiked database utilization to 100%, a customer filed an urgent ticket at 9:54 AM. By 9:57 AM, a CSOC analyst was actively engaged and implementing countermeasures.
Persistent mitigation: For customers under sustained multi-week attacks, our team maintained constant vigilance, adjusting defenses as attackers evolved their tactics and ultimately neutralizing persistent threats.
These are the experiences Fastly customers can expect and rely on - they are the standard we hold ourselves to when protecting our customers.
Your worst day is our every day
Our customers’ worst days are Fastly’s every day when it comes to DDoS attacks. And that is not meant to minimize the impact of an attack on your business. It is a recognition that our team has the experience, composure, and expertise to handle even the most intense situations, because we've done it thousands of times.
When you're under attack, Fastly's CSOC becomes an extension of your team. We bring the full power of our global edge network, our collective intelligence, and our deep security expertise to bear on your behalf.
Ready to learn how Fastly can protect your organization from DDoS attacks and security threats? Contact our team today to discuss your security needs.