Table of Contents

Detecting DDoS attacks, BotNet activity, and visits to specific resources using triggers in QoE

Triggers are used to search data in QoE Stor based on specified parameters. When a trigger fires, one of the following actions can occur:


Required SSG DPI options:

Required additional modules:

Example: configuring a trigger to detect the source of a Flood-type DDoS attack

General trigger information

Trigger name: “DDOS source detection”, days of the week – all, check frequency – 1 hour, trigger activation frequency – once, start and end times not set.

Every day, the system will perform a check every hour based on the conditions described below.

Queries

In this case, the system analyzes traffic for the selected page during the last 15 minutes.

Conditions

This means the trigger will fire if sessions with lifetimes ≤ 20ms AND more than 1500 sessions from the same IP host are detected.

Error handling

In this configuration, no data will be saved if there are no errors, but if errors occur, information about suspicious sessions will be saved as a table.

Actions

E-mail action

Notification

The report link can be obtained from the notifications menu.

Select the notification Click Details

Follow the report link — it will open in a new browser window.

HTTP action

Click "</>" to auto-fill the form, select the method suitable for your ticket system, and enter the URL address.

Keep in mind — values such as session count and packet rate are averaged. Fine-tuning should be performed based on your network specifics.

Example: configuring a trigger to detect the target of a Flood-type DDoS attack

This configuration differs from the previous example in steps 2 and 3 (Queries and Conditions).

Queries

In the report field, select Raw full netflow → Tables → Attacks detection → Top subscribers → Maxi

Conditions

Series — “Flow volume to subscribers, Pct/s” >= 10000

Values such as session count and packet rate are averaged. Fine-tuning should be performed based on your network specifics.

BotNet analysis

This configuration differs from the previous example in steps 2 and 3 (Queries and Conditions).

Queries

Conditions

Since BotNet often uses ports 6667 and 1080 — add each destination/source port by selecting query “B” with “OR” condition, and Flow Pcts/s >= 2000.

In this configuration, the trigger will fire if on any of the ports (6667/1080) the packet rate exceeds 2000 per second.
Values such as session count and packet rate are averaged. Fine-tuning should be performed based on your network specifics.

Detecting subscriber visits to competitor resources

General trigger information

Trigger name: “Interest in competitors”, days of the week – all, check frequency – 1 hour, trigger activation frequency – once, start and end times not set.

Every day, the system will perform a check every hour based on the conditions described below.

Queries

Conditions

The trigger will fire if at least 800 packets (indicating a meaningful visit) from a subscriber to a competitor’s website are detected.

Error handling

In this configuration, no data will be saved if there are no errors, but if errors occur, information about suspicious sessions will be saved as a table.

Actions

E-mail action

When triggered, an email containing notification details — ID, trigger name, status, and report link (saved state) — will be sent to the specified address.
Notification

The report link can be obtained from the notifications menu.

Select the notification Click Details

Follow the report link — it will open in a new browser window.

HTTP action

Keep in mind — values such as session count and packet rate are averaged. Fine-tuning should be performed based on your network specifics.