In the current digital entertainment industry, online games have become the main form of entertainment for hundreds of millions of players around the world, but at the same time the gaming industry is also facing increasingly severe security challenges. In recent years, large-scale DDoS attacks have occurred frequently, the peak value of a single attack has exceeded 3Tbps, the proliferation of game plug-ins and player privacy leakage incidents are endless, and the whole industry has been plunged into an unprecedented trust crisis. As a game developer, have you ever been anxious because the server was attacked, and worried because of the game delay problem? It is against this background that StoneCDN has developed and launched theGameshieldGameShield is an integrated protection and acceleration solution designed specifically for online gaming, and has been hailed by industry experts as "the infrastructure for game operations". GameShield provides all-round security protection and network optimization for game servers by integrating DDoS/CC protection, source hiding, global acceleration and other functions.
What is Game Shield?
Gameshield（Game Shield is a class of security products customized for online gaming business, whose core role is to detect and filter all kinds of malicious traffic attacks in a timely manner, while guaranteeing the quality of players' access. Compared with traditional general-purpose DDoS protection devices, Game Shield deeply combines the characteristics of gaming business: it can not only cope with gigabyte traffic attacks, but also identify game protocols and plug-in behaviors, as well as built-in mechanisms such as source hiding and global acceleration, enabling game developers to build a solid security "shield" without changing the game architecture. With the rise of cloud games, meta-universes and other new technology scenarios, industry experts have pointed out that "the game shield is no longer an optional accessory, but an infrastructure for game operation". From the explosion in the number of playersMMO/SLG gamesto a rapidly iterativeleisure gameRegardless of the size of the project, deploying GameShield can significantly improve attack resistance and user experience, helping teams to cope with industry competition and security tests.
How GameShield Defends Against DDOS Attacks
StoneCDN GameShield's strong protection capability comes from its multi-layered and intelligent technical architecture:
- Distributed Traffic Cleaning Networks: StoneCDN has deployed more than 1,700 edge nodes globally to form a TB-level defense cluster, with each node having independent cleaning capabilities. When an attack is encountered, the intelligent scheduling system disperses the malicious traffic to multiple nodes for parallel processing, effectively avoiding single-point overload. Even in the face of 3Tbps-level mega-attacks, each node only needs to handle 1-2Gbps traffic, thus ensuring the cleaning effect and network stability. This "zero" strategy reduces the threat of large traffic attacks to a manageable level.
- Game protocols are intelligently recognized: For game-specific protocols, StoneCDN adopts the "Star Chain Algorithm" based on GAN generative adversarial network for feature learning. Through simulation training, the algorithm can accurately identify the features of 32 game private protocols (such as "Original God" and "Honor of Kings") and filter malicious packets in real time. Empirical data shows that for various attack scenarios, such as UDP flood, WebSocket flood, CC slow attacks, StoneCDN's interception efficiency is generally above 97%, and the false positive rate is extremely low. For example, the interception rate for CC slow attacks is as high as 97%, indicating that GameShield is able to effectively curb a variety of seven-layer business attacks against games.
- Edge Computing and Intelligent Scheduling: GameShield makes full use of the edge computing architecture, where each node can be cleaned and accelerated on the side close to the player, minimizing cross-network latency and bandwidth costs. At the same time, the stone network's scheduling system has a global view and will automatically select the optimal path and dynamically adjust resources. Combined with QUIC protocol alternative TCP handshake (reducing 60% handshake time) and forward error correction technology (85% packet loss recovery rate), StoneCDN Game Shield can reduce cross-border game latency to80ms or less(Traditional solutions usually take 120-300ms), dramatically improving the player experience.
- Full-link encryption and data security: To prevent traffic from being intercepted and tampered with, StoneCDN GameShield uses an end-to-end encryption strategy between the client and the server (the client is encrypted using the SM4 algorithm, and the transport layer is encrypted using TLS1.3), and encrypts and protects the server memory and database data. Coupled with mechanisms such as dynamic key rotation, memory sandbox isolation, integrity checking, etc., Stone Network's security architecture can withstand all kinds of eavesdropping and tampering behaviors, making it impossible for attackers to decrypt the data even if they intercept it.
In summary, StoneCDN GameShield willHigh Traffic DDoS Cleaning,Seven-layer protocol inspection,Edge Accelerationrespond in singingfull-link encryptionFused as one, it builds a multi-layered intelligent protection system for the gaming business.
StoneCDN GameShield Architecture Flow
The overall architecture of StoneCDN GameShield is schematically shown in the figure above. The architecture is based on the converged edge computing platform and intelligent scheduling system. The specific process is as follows: the game client passes the integratedSDK/Plug-inAfter accessing the GameShield, key encryption and service inspection are performed on the game traffic; thereafter, the traffic is sent to the nearestEdge Security NodesIn the edge nodes, StoneCDN uses big data and AI technology to pre-filter suspicious traffic. On the edge nodes, StoneCDN uses big data and AI technology to pre-filter suspicious traffic, and only verified normal game requests are forwarded; at the same time, the source station IP information is hidden throughout the entire process, and the real server address is not visible to the outside world, further defending against direct attacks. When an attack or abnormality is detected, the intelligent scheduling system will direct the malicious traffic to the high-defense cleaning center and ultimately refuse to return (as shown in the figure for the attack request return).403 Forbidden). The cloud operation platform continuously monitors the load and security events of each node, and analyzes traffic trends through visualization of the big picture. This full-link architecture ensures that legitimate players are not affected, while at the same time quickly identifying and removing all kinds of complex attacks.
Practical use cases
StoneCDN GameShield's performance in the actual project has been eye-catching, and the feedback from many game manufacturers has proved its powerful protection effect and good user experience guarantee:
- Example of a large MMO project: The handheld game "World of Immortal Swords" suffered hundreds of millions of complex attacks when it was launched globally.StoneCDN customized a regional hybrid protection strategy (BGP acceleration + behavioral authentication for Asia and Anycast + protocol fingerprinting for Europe and the United States, etc.), and on the first day of the launch, theBlocked 280 million attack attempts. During this period, the average player latency was only 68ms, the App Store rating stayed at 4.9 stars, and the game ran steadily and smoothly.
- The Case of Small and Medium Teams: The independent hand game "Star Trader" team has only 5 people with limited budget, StoneCDN provides "growth package". When the initial DAU of the game was only 100,000, the monthly fee was only 0.8 million yuan, and with the user outbreak growing to 2 million, the protection cost only increased to 120,000 yuan/month, which is much lower than the industry average of 250,000 yuan. This flexible billing model allows small and medium-sized developers to afford a high level of security protection.
- Publishing Cases: When a Chinese second-generation handball game was released overseas and suffered a large-scale geographical attack, StoneCDN quickly mobilized nodes in Tokyo and Osaka and linked up with operators to optimize the algorithm, reducing the latency for Japanese players from 210ms to 45ms.3X increase in paid conversions, managed to reach the top 5 of the best-seller list in Japan App Store.
- Real-time emergency response: When an SLG handball game suffered a 1.2Tbps attack, StoneCDN ensured that the game's 99.6% player online rate was unaffected, while the servers of competing products using other services were paralyzed for 3 hours during the same period. After accessing the shooting game "XX Elite", the elimination rate of auto-targeting plug-ins reached 93%, player ARPU (average revenue) increased by 31%, and the game's life cycle was extended by 8 months.
- Customer service and operations experience: StoneCDN equips each customer with a dedicated security expert for full-cycle tracking services. A developer recalled, "When we received an attack alert at 3:00 a.m., the StoneCDN team responded within 5 minutes, which was faster than our own operation and maintenance."
The above case data shows that StoneCDN GameShield is not only able toSuccessful interception of all types of attacksIt also maximizes player experience and operational efficiency. After deploying GameShield, player lag complaints and plug-in reports will drop significantly, and the game's reputation and revenue will steadily increase.
StoneCDN GameShield vs. CDN5 Strategy Comparison
In the current market, there is a clear difference between StoneCDN GameShield's product strategy and that of other vendors (e.g., CDN5 GameShield):
- Architecture and Scale: Third-party test data shows that StoneCDN Gaming Shield leads CDN5 Gaming Shield's 10.5Tbps and 1,500+ nodes with 13Tbps of peak defense capacity and 1,700+ nodes worldwide. This larger scale edge deployment means StoneCDN can carry higher concurrent attack traffic and provide low-latency acceleration services with wider coverage.
- Responsiveness: In terms of network acceleration, StoneCDN reduces cross-border game latency to **<80ms** through technologies such as the QUIC protocol and intelligent scheduling; while traditional solutions and some competing products are often between 120-300ms. In addition, StoneCDN's node switching and handshaking have reached the industry-leading level, and players can hardly feel any increase in latency due to protection.
- Scalability: StoneCDN's billing and resource management strategies are flexible, offering peak bandwidth and DAU elasticity subscription models that allow for on-demand capacity expansion. For example, StoneCDN reduces the monthly fee for 500Gbps defense from the traditional $180,000 to $48,000 per month. In contrast, traditional solutions such as CDN5 often require the purchase of excess bandwidth or fixed fees in advance, which is less elastic.
- Intelligent analytics capabilities: StoneCDN excels in AI-driven smart analytics. ItsStarlink algorithmAbility to learn new types of attacks quickly and inIn 10 minutes.StoneCDN has also developed the "invisible verification" technology, which completes the player's human-computer verification through TCP window scaling, with a verification success rate of 98.7%, hardly disturbing the normal players.StoneCDN's rich game protocol library and huge behavioral database make it more accurate in anti-plagiarism and risk identification. StoneCDN's rich library of game protocols and huge behavioral database make it more accurate in anti-plagiarism and risk identification.
To summarize, from architecture distribution, pressure resistance to intelligent analysis, StoneCDN Game Shield outperforms competitors such as CDN5 in a number of key indicators, providing game developers with more efficient and reliable security.
Visual Management and O&M Reporting
StoneCDN GameShield provides a complete visual management platform and monitoring reports to help operation and maintenance teams grasp the security situation and optimize policies in real time:
- Monitor the dashboard in real time: StoneCDN console dashboard covers 200+ monitoring indicators in 6 categories, including attack posture (real-time traffic map, attack sources), cleaning effect (block/false kill statistics, node load), quality indicators (player latency distribution, packet loss rate heatmap), security events (plug-in alerts, abnormal logins), business indicators (fluctuations in the number of online users, paid conversions), and resource usage (bandwidth utilization, resilience scaling records). utilization rate, elastic capacity expansion records). For example, if player latency suddenly rises in a province, the platform can quickly locate whether it is a line problem or an attack, and track the protection load of each node in real time.
- Policy Configuration and Alerting: The console provides 20+ preset protection templates and a visual drag-and-drop policy editing interface. Administrators can set layered policies for different attack types at the network, protocol and application layers, such as automatic blocking of abnormal IPs, parsing and detection of deep protocol fields, and triggering CAPTCHA validation for abnormal behavior. The policy takes effect in less than 15 seconds and supports modification log auditing. At the same time, the platform supports the setting of alarm thresholds and automatic degradation rules, so that when the traffic is abnormal, it can promptly notify the operation and maintenance or automatically open the high defense channel.
- Visual reports and data analysis: The system supports exporting PDF reports and can also be docked to enterprise BI systems via API. Attack reports, performance reports and security incident reports are automatically generated every month, allowing developers to visualize the protection effect and operation status. For example, if you find a sudden increase in the amount of plug-in detection on a certain day, you can export the relevant logs for in-depth analysis and adjust the strategy. Rich visualization functions and intelligent analysis tools greatly simplify the operation and maintenance workload and improve the efficiency of security response.
With these visualization and reporting features, StoneCDN GameShield not only makes security data visible at a glance, but also makes O&M work more efficient and controllable.
Integration Guidelines and Future Trends
Integration Recommendations: StoneCDN Game Shield supports multi-platform access and flexible deployment. For new projects or games with modifiable source code, developers only need to download the corresponding platform's SDK (Windows, Android, iOS, etc.) and call the initialization interface to enable the protection and acceleration functions.
For example, just one line of code:GameShield.init(this).enableDDoSProtection(true).setAILevel(AILevel.ADVANCED).enableSpeedUp(true)Full-featured protection can be integrated. For off-the-shelf games where source code is not available, StoneCDN provides a reverse binary injection solution: the technical team completes the transformation in an average of 3 working days through binary analysis and automated testing to ensure that the game functions without anomalies. In addition, StoneCDN provides configuration wizards and documentation support so that the access process can be completed in hours to days with immediate results. After integration, it is recommended to regularly review console monitoring data and reports, and set policies and thresholds appropriately to ensure continuous protection results.
Summary. For game developers, deploying StoneCDN Game Shield is an effective way to enhance business stability and user satisfaction. With globally distributed cleansing, efficient acceleration, and intelligent policies, it can both respond to complex attacks and optimize game network performance. We recommend that development teams incorporate GameShield into their infrastructure as early as possible, follow the official documentation steps for quick access, and use the visual console for regular rehearsals and optimization. Choosing StoneCDN GameShield not only means getting a product, it also means having a professional security team and continuous innovative technical support to protect the game business.