In a recent engagement where we delivered our DDoS testing service, we encountered the question of DDoS testing versus Stress testing. There was some confusion, and we’ve seen it before, where DDoS and stress tests are seen as the same thing under two different names.   

Let’s jump into these two services and define them so you can see what the differences are and why you might get one service over the other!  

What is DDoS?

If you aren’t familiar with DDoS or Distributed Denial of Service, it is a form of cyber-attack which attempts to make its target unavailable to its intended user. This is typically done by crashing the target’s network or just its capacity to deliver its service. A DDoS attack is a flood of tickets and requests, we’re talking hundreds of thousands a second, all attempting to shut your system down by sheer volume.  

A DDoS simulation test has nothing to do with the player journey, it doesn’t interact with how players might engage with your service and how it reacts to significant traffic. This is the core of how it differs from a stress test simulation.  

What is Stress Testing?

While both services are used to evaluate the robustness of your system, they both serve different purposes and are certainly executed differently. A DDoS simulation test has nothing to do with the player journey, it doesn’t interact with how players might engage with your service and how it reacts to significant traffic.   The thing to remember about a load test, regardless of which type, is that it is holistically looking at the player journey and how players interact with your service or game.  

Purpose of a Stress Test

The purpose of a stress test is to evaluate a system’s performance and stability under extreme conditions. A game or system is pushed beyond its normal operating capacity and we see how it reacts.  

Focus of a Stress Test

We’re aiming to find the breaking points of your system. And the Cyrex team are looking for how it behaves under these extreme conditions. Where are the bottlenecks? Where is performance being inhibited? These are the questions we’re asking!  

Method of a Stress Test

The Cyrex team conduct a stress test in a controlled environment, simulating high traffic or data process or resource usage.  

Goal of a Stress Test

To ensure your system can handle the demand expected of it! As well as identifying its maximum capacity before failing, which also includes identifying precisely where the issues happen before they crash.  

Use Case of a Stress Test

Mainly used to validate system performance during peak loads. Sales events for e-commerce, games at launch or on a major update, or other apps during major updates.  

What is DDoS Testing?

DDoS Testing is not about the player journey. It is entirely focused on key end points that target pieces of network infrastructure. We’re looking at multiplayer services and backend services and more when we DDoS test. We flood the servers and these end points with tickets and requests and traffic. The goal is all about discovering the strength of your security and your application’s security resilience.  

Purpose of a DDoS Test

It is a specifically designed test in which we simulate a malicious attack. The Cyrex team simulate an attack where multiple sources flood the target system with an overwhelming number of requests.  

Focus of a DDoS Test

Our focus during these tests is to assess your system’s ability to withstand a cyber-attack that intends to disrupt your services. These attacks seek to exhaust your CPU, memory, or bandwidth, we want to see how yours reacts.  

Method of a DDoS Test

The method is simple, it is a controlled environment that simulates and mimics a real-world attack. These scenarios are seen daily in actual DDoS attacks where large scale traffic is delivered via distributing methods such as botnets.  

Goal of a DDoS Test

Our security team’s goal is to identify vulnerabilities in your system’s security posture, measure how effectively your defences work, and develop comprehensive mitigation strategies against attacks such as these.  

Use Case of a DDoS Test

Simply, to test and assure yourself of your system’s resilience against DDoS attacks. Websites, servers, it doesn’t matter. It’s important to see how resilient your are against these kinds of attacks and to see the proper mitigation measures in place.   

Key Differences between Stress Testing and DDoS Testing

Stress testing is performance-focused, looking at how a player journey and a lot of requests in that journey can affect your servers. They are internal pressures. A stress test is also simulating a controlled, predictable, and typically expected response. And lastly, it measures how your system handles peak loads.  

DDoS testing is security-focused, simulating an external attack on key end points. It is a chaotic event, resembling real-world cyber-attacks. And finally, it is evaluating your system’s resilience against hostile traffic.  

Both of these tests are essential for ensuring system robustness but they serve unique roles in the world of security and performance assessment. 

If you’d like to leverage our DDoS testing services or stress testing services and other forms of load testing, get in touch today! With our proprietary, headless load testing and DDoS testing tool, Cyrex Swarm, we can handle any engagement thanks to its seamless integration with any networking protocol and near limitless testing capacity. We’re proud to be the gold standard in digital security and development.