Beyond signatures and thresholds: Intelligent DDoS detection using Convolutional Neural Networks

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks have evolved into sophisticated threats against digital infrastructure. This research investigates Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for DDoS detection using the CIC-IDS2017 dataset. A CNN model was developed, leveraging convolutional and pooling layers for hierarchical feature extraction. Preprocessing ensured dataset consistency and generalization. The model achieved 99.978% test accuracy, demonstrating proficiency in recognizing DDoS patterns. Comparatively, a Deep Neural Network (DNN) benchmark obtained 99.9512% accuracy, indicating CNNs superiority. However, CNN training time was longer. While results highlight deep learning's potential against DDoS attacks, optimizations for real-time deployment warrant exploration. This empirical evaluation and comparative analysis enriches the discourse on utilizing machine learning for robust cybersecurity.