F5 launches DDoS scrubbing centres in Sydney and Melbourne

F5 says in response to growing demand across ANZ, it has launched two scrubbing centres in Australia, in Sydney and Melbourne, to provide customers with real-time local protection, support, and expertise.

The company says research shows there were more than 50 million distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in Australia and New Zealand between July and September of 2021 alone. It says in July 2021, F5 mitigated large scale, multi-vector DDoS attacks, peaking at approximately 1.2 terabits per second (Tbps) – with the largest single attack peaking at 1.15Tbps.

F5 says to effectively counter the increasing complexity and sophistication of DDoS attacks, scrubbing centres alleviate threats with as little disruption as possible by analysing incoming traffic, identifying threats, and removing them.

The company says the new scrubbing centres are a part of F5's global backbone and is a further demonstration of investment into ANZ and a broader strategy to prioritise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications.

Whether always on or on-demand, F5 says the scrubbing centres analyse traffic to establish a normal baseline and identify and mitigate attacks by detecting threats or traffic anomalies.

Additionally, F5 says the new sovereign capability of directing traffic through an Australian scrubbing centre mitigates compliance processes involved in offshore routing and helps reduce friction. This offers customers consistent service and industry-leading time-to-mitigation.

F5 regional vice president for ANZ Jason Baden says the company has dramatically increased its offerings and is excited to provide customers in ANZ with efficient, cost-effective solutions that will enable them to deliver and protect applications without constraints.

"As organisations become larger and more distributed, they require consistent security, end-to-end visibility, and the ability to identify and respond to threats, while assuring protection for customers," he says.

According to F5's data, APAC experienced the most DDoS attacks from 2018 to 2021, as criminals focused their attention on markets such as ANZ, which are viewed as easier and more vulnerable targets.

APAC continues to be a major source of malicious and threatening traffic. Coupled with the availability of DDoS tools, F5 expects attacks to increase in frequency and level of destruction.

F5 security solutions architect David Arthur says organisations have finite resources.

"With the rate new technology is entering the market, ANZ customers can use F5 security services to do the heavy lifting, freeing up valuable engineering resources to focus on delivering business value," he says.

F5 is a multi-cloud application security and delivery company that enables customers—including the world's largest enterprises, financial institutions, service providers, and governments—to bring digital experiences to life.