Cloudflare provides a critical security capability to protect university websites, web applications, and DNS (Domain Name System) servers from external attacks, particularly Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, as well as attacks that attempt to compromise university websites and applications.
The U-M Cloudflare Service Overview slides (U-M login required) provide an introduction to the service.
ITS has three Cloudflare offerings for university units:
- Basic (manged by you or by ITS)
- Turnkey (managed by ITS)
- Self Service (managed by you or by ITS)
For more information on each offering, visit the Getting Started page.
Features & Benefits
Under the university’s enterprise license for Cloudflare, users will benefit from:
- Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection:
Protects websites and DNS servers against attempts to take them offline. - Web Application Firewall (WAF):
Blocks attempts to compromise websites. - Content acceleration:
Makes websites much faster for visitors. - Website hosting cost savings:
Reduces monthly bills from web hosting vendors.
Technical Features
- Web Proxy - Content Distribution Network (CDN) and caching
- Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack Protection
- Bot Protection
- Web Application Firewall
- Web Traffic Load Balancers
- Analytics and Logs (DS-19 requirements implemented centrally by ITS)
- Static IP addresses for websites at DNS zone apexes without CNAME flattening or ANAME support
- DNS Firewall, DNS Proxy