Methodology

How We Work

Scenario-based DDoS testing. Resilience engineering. Evidence you can trust.

DDoS readiness is not a claim—it's something you validate, improve, and prove with repeatable testing and measurable outcomes. Our methodology is designed for CISOs and engineering leaders who need clarity, prioritization, and evidence.

What you get

Every engagement is built to produce practical outcomes—not just observations.

1) Executive summary (risk + priorities)

A concise, CISO-ready view of:

  • What can break (and why)
  • Business impact and critical paths
  • The top priorities to address first
  • Decisions required (and who owns them)

2) Test plan + executed evidence

A scenario plan agreed in advance, plus evidence from execution:

  • Scope and assumptions (what's in/out)
  • Scenarios (volumetric, L7, dependency stress, mixed traffic)
  • Results against defined objectives (availability, latency, error rates)
  • Observations tied to data (not opinions)

3) Prioritized roadmap

A structured plan that engineering teams can act on:

  • Highest-impact fixes first (quick wins + strategic work)
  • Owners, dependencies, and sequencing
  • Risk reduction rationale (why this matters)
  • Retest checkpoints

4) Runbooks and escalation paths

Operational readiness that works under pressure:

  • Detection and triage workflow
  • Mitigation actions and decision points
  • Provider escalation contacts and procedures
  • Communication checklist (internal, external, and regulatory where applicable)

5) Re-validation proof

After changes are applied, we re-test relevant scenarios to provide:

  • Before/after comparison
  • Confirmed improvements (or remaining gaps)
  • Updated evidence package for audits and leadership reviews

Our 4-step process

Step 1

Discover

We build a clear picture of what matters and what can fail.

  • Critical services and user journeys
  • Architecture, dependencies, and choke points
  • Existing mitigations and operational procedures
  • Baselines: normal traffic, peak patterns, and known constraints
  • Threat landscape: industry-specific DDoS patterns, known actor tactics, and recent trends

Output: scope definition + baseline + assumptions.

Step 2

Validate

We pressure-test realistic scenarios under controlled conditions.

  • Volumetric, protocol-level (L3/L4), and application-layer (L7) stress scenarios
  • State exhaustion testing targeting firewalls, load balancers, and connection tables
  • Mixed traffic conditions (legitimate spikes + attacks)
  • Failure mode discovery: bottlenecks, timeouts, false positives

Output: executed test evidence + gaps tied to measurable impact.

Step 3

Engineer

We turn findings into concrete resilience reinforcement.

  • Tuning edge controls (WAF/CDN/rate limits/bot policies)
  • Improving origin resilience (caching, backpressure, autoscaling thresholds)
  • Strengthening dependencies (DNS/API, third parties, failover paths)
  • Updating monitoring thresholds and response automation (where feasible)
  • Cost guardrails: autoscaling budgets and spend alerts to prevent attack-driven cloud bill exposure

Output: prioritized remediation plan + implementation guidance.

Step 4

Re-validate

We prove the fixes worked.

  • Retest the scenarios that previously failed (or degraded)
  • Measure improvement against defined objectives (SLOs)
  • Update runbooks and evidence package

Output: before/after report + sign-off-ready evidence.

Engagement modules (pick what you need)

Choose a focused module, or combine them into a complete program.

A

DDoS Readiness Assessment

Best when you need a clear starting point.

  • Critical-path mapping
  • Risk summary and top priorities
  • Readiness checklist and ownership map
B

Scenario-Based DDoS Testing

Best when you want proof and measurable outcomes.

  • Test plan + execution
  • Results mapped to SLOs
  • Evidence package
C

Resilience Engineering

Best when you already know gaps exist and want to fix them.

  • Architecture reinforcement plan
  • Control tuning (edge + origin)
  • Operational improvements (monitoring + runbooks)
D

Incident Readiness (Runbooks + Drills)

Best when you want confident response under pressure.

  • Incident runbooks and escalation paths
  • Tabletop exercises based on your scenarios
  • Communication drill (stakeholder notification under time pressure)
  • Post-exercise improvements
E

Re-validation & Continuous Readiness

Best for ongoing assurance.

  • Retesting after changes/releases
  • Trend tracking (before/after)
  • Regular evidence refresh

Pick a scenario relevant to you

Browse representative scenarios and playbooks, and choose what matters most for your environment.