Google Cloud Armor DDoS and WAF Protection | Generated by AI
Question: What is an introduction to Google Cloud Armor?
Answer:
Google Cloud Armor is Google Cloud’s network security service that protects applications and infrastructure from various internet-based threats, particularly DDoS attacks and common web application attacks.
Main Purposes
- DDoS protection — Mitigates both volumetric network-level (Layer 3/4) and application-level (Layer 7) attacks.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF) — Blocks common exploits such as SQL injection (SQLi), cross-site scripting (XSS), remote code execution, and many other OWASP Top 10 threats.
Key Features
- Always-on Layer 3/4 DDoS protection — Automatically provided for Google Cloud load balancers (no extra configuration needed for basic volumetric protection).
- Layer 7 protection — Configurable through security policies attached to HTTP(S) load balancers.
- Security Policies — The core mechanism:
- Custom rules (you define match conditions → actions like allow, deny, redirect, rate-limit, etc.)
- Preconfigured WAF rules — Ready-to-use OWASP-aligned rule sets with dozens of signatures.
- Preconfigured protection levels (e.g., default rulesets for common threats).
- Adaptive Protection (Enterprise tier) — ML-based automatic threat detection and rule tuning.
- Bot Management (Enterprise) — Advanced bot detection and mitigation.
- Edge security — Rules are evaluated at Google’s edge (close to the source of traffic), reducing load on your backends.
Tiers / Editions (as of 2025–2026)
- Cloud Armor Standard — Basic DDoS protection + custom rules + some preconfigured WAF rules (pay-per-use, charged mainly on processed requests).
- Cloud Armor Enterprise — Full-featured version:
- Advanced WAF rules
- Adaptive Protection
- Bot Management
- Managed Protection (always-on curated defenses)
- Predictable pricing via subscription (monthly/annual commitment options)
Where It Attaches
Cloud Armor policies are primarily attached to:
- Global external Application Load Balancers (HTTP/HTTPS)
- Classic Application Load Balancers
- Some cross-project and multi-cloud scenarios (with proper configuration)
It does not directly protect Compute Engine VMs or non-load-balanced traffic unless routed through a supported load balancer.
Common Use Cases
- Protecting public web applications from DDoS floods
- Blocking common web exploits without writing custom regex rules
- Rate limiting suspicious clients (e.g., brute-force login attempts)
- Geo-based or IP-based access control
- Defending APIs and mobile backends
- Adding defense-in-depth for internet-facing services
In short: Cloud Armor is Google’s combination of always-on DDoS scrubbing + managed WAF + edge policy enforcement, leveraging Google’s massive global network and threat intelligence.
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