Link11: The leading european Cybersecurity Provider “made in Germany”

Each data breach or other cyberattack costs companies millions of dollars, and cybersecurity is the only solution to the problem. Fortunately, many companies are making remarkable progress in fending off cybercriminals.

One such company is Link11, the leading European IT security provider in protecting web services and infrastructures against cyberattacks. Recently, the New-York based research & consulting firm Frost & Sullivan conducted a study in collaboration with pen-testing specialist NimbusDDoS. The test results identified Link11 as the clear front-runner. The company was the only one to meet all of the independent study’s criteria and reach the greatest precision and speed when detecting and mitigating DDoS attacks.

Company overview

Founded in 2005, and headquartered in Germany, Link11 was originally a web hosting provider. However, after the company experienced cyberattacks firsthand, it shifted its focus to digital protection and started offering cybersecurity solutions to customers in 2011. With its North American headquarter in Vancouver, the company offers fully automated, cloud-based anti-DDoS protection.

The ISO 27001 company has since become one of the most impactful service providers with a reliable global network to protect companies in multiple industries, including banking and finance, media, e-commerce, and others.

According to Link11’s website, the company is already protecting over two million assets for its clients. Link11’s distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection systems provide security for various industries worldwide, and the German Federal Office for Information Security recognizes the company as a qualified DDoS protection provider for critical infrastructures.

How Link11 protects IT systems

Link11 provides a wide range of services, including web and infrastructure DDoS protection, bot management, API protection, secure DNS, zero-touch WAF, and secure CDN. The cybersecurity provider’s Cloud Security Platform offers full protection against attacks in under ten seconds, with several analyst groups, such as Gartner or Frost & Sullivan, having claimed that Link11 offers the fastest time to mitigate in the market.

While Link11 offers a vast range of services, its DDoS Protection service deserves a special mention. A DDoS attack is a form of cybercrime wherein the attacker routes excessive internet traffic toward a server. DDoS protection services, such as the one offered by Link 11, help prevent and counter these attacks. This allows businesses to operate normally on the web.

Link11 offers a cloud-based system that prevents DDoS attacks on applications and services, allowing autonomous systems to function smoothly. This system is supported by a globally-distributed DDoS scrubbing center architecture.

Link11’s DDoS protection platform provides complete protection from OSI layers 3 to 7. The protection ensures minimal latency when the service is in its always-on mode. All of this relies on artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation and real-time defence. This ensures straightforward and effective handling of potential threats and an infrastructure that remains unaffected during a DDoS attack.

With the Link11’s DDoS infrastructure protection solution, the network infrastructures are

protected around the clock via Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).The integration of the WebDDoS protection solution via DNS is focused on securing the company’s web applications. This protection is achieved by changing the A-record to the Link11 proxy. Integration via DNS can be implemented starting from one IP address and protects applications based on IP addresses or  domain names against DDoS attacks on layer 3 to 7.

Why cybersecurity is indispensable

Digital adoption has taken center stage in board meetings. However, that also means an increased threat to companies’ assets. Link11’s 2021 report revealed that the number of DDoS attacks increased by 41 percent between 2020 and 2021. The volume of attacks also surged rapidly, with the highest attack reaching around 4.5 TBPS.

The attacks were also more complex, demonstrating the need for potent DDoS protection. For instance, 71 percent of attacks in 2021 were multi-vector attacks combining several techniques, while every third DDoS attack relied on cloud instances.

These numbers illustrate that cyber attacks, such as DDoS attacks, have become an everyday risk, and Link11 provides solutions to support companies in preventing such cyber threats. Companies, organisations, facilities and systems that are responsible for the public system and the general welfare are particularly affected – a heightened awareness of cyber security in this context is crucial.

Traditional protection solutions for network and infrastructure security focus on manual analysis of incidents and static, pattern-based evaluation of data. With the growing complexity of IT security, this time-consuming and resource-intensive approach is not sustainable. New attack techniques undermine the radar as they do not match the pattern. The existing automation does not take effect – business failures and further damage follow.

Closing thoughts

Without a doubt, digitalisation and networking will continue to expand. In the future, the use of artificial intelligence will increase and more and more automated systems will communicate digitally with each other. This makes producers and suppliers in the energy sector, banks in the financial sector and hospitals in the healthcare sector all the more vulnerable to attack. Cyber attacks result in production downtimes worth millions and supply shortages.

Companies like Link11 bring incredible experience and knowledge to the table — assets that companies and governments of the future might feel valuable. Link11’s integrated cloud security platform uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation and real-time defence to provide complete protection for IT infrastructures and critical applications and to strengthen cyber resilience.