Germany's Hetzner revealed a network-wide deployment of Nokia's defense platform targeted at distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

The cloud provider and data center operator is utilizing Nokia Deepfield Defender deployed on Juniper Networks routers to bolster DDoS protection across its Europe-wide data center infrastructure. The firm added that with in-network DDoS mitigation, it retains data sovereignty while supporting compliance with European data protection requirements in line with ISO 27001 certification.

The deployment is built on an existing Nokia partnership, under which Hetzner recently utilized Nokia 7750 SR-1x routing technology to upgrade its data centers and core network infrastructure.

In an interview last year, Paul Alexander, VP and country GM for Nokia's U.K. and Ireland operations, said the firm was seeing growing demand for the Defender tool, commenting: "DDoS is still a fundamental issue. The number of DDoS attacks out there is still big and growing, and it's being weaponized by AI. We build security into our products as part of [our] DNA. It's not an afterthought. We have this defense in-depth capability.”

Deeming network security as essential infrastructure for AI data centers, Hetzner framed the reveal as supporting the "demands of the AI supercycle," protecting GPU servers, high-performance computing clusters, and cloud resources to power AI applications across its European network.

“It was crucial for us to find a solution that reliably detects attacks and stops them early in the network without affecting our customers’ legitimate traffic,” Martin Fritzsche, head of network at Hetzner, noted. “[Now] we can automatically and accurately defend against DDoS attacks while maintaining full control over traffic in our own infrastructure.”

“Cyberattacks are getting more advanced, which means the tools we use to fight it need to as well," Matthieu Bourguignon, Europe VP for network infrastructure at Nokia, added. "Deepfield Defender’s AI-powered analytics, comprehensive network telemetry, and global threat intelligence allows Hetzner to stop attacks autonomously at the network edge, as well as analyzing and purging more complex threats. Hetzner’s customers will be reassured that with this security investment their data will be even more protected and their services assured.”