DDoS Protection for Kurdistan’s Digital Government: A Success Story

As governments increasingly rely on digital services, cybersecurity has become more critical than ever. This is especially true for resources of politically sensitive regions like Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), where DDoS attacks pose a serious threat to stability, public services, and overall regional development.

In this success story, we’ll share how we protected the Kurdistan Regional Government’s website (gov.krd) from DDoS attacks, ensuring uninterrupted access for the region’s residents.

Customer: Kurdistan Regional Government

Kurdistan, an autonomous region, is often targeted by DDoS attacks. These attacks serve as a tool of political pressure, aiming to disrupt government operations and destabilize the area.

Government websites are the primary targets, and their inaccessibility leads to public dissatisfaction and weakened trust in authorities. One of the most critical online resources is gov.krd, the official website of the Kurdistan Regional Government, along with its subsystems.

Through gov.krd, users can access government information, stay updated on regional news, and use various digital services—from applying for a driver’s license to registering a foreign business in Kurdistan.

Challenge: Eliminating DDoS Attacks for Good

From the very beginning, gov.krd and its subsystems have played a vital role in Kurdistan’s digital government. They facilitate communication between government agencies and provide essential online services to citizens.

Today, tens of thousands of users rely on gov.krd daily, and as more government services go digital, this number continues to grow. Ensuring the website’s resilience against disruptions has become more critical than ever.

“We believe it was the right decision to implement DDoS protection back in 2020 when gov.krd was launched. Even then, we knew that maintaining the stability of our online resources would be essential for the structured and continuous development of gov.krd, benefiting the region’s residents”

Shkar Noori, Head of DevOps, KRG Department of Information Technology (KRG DIT)

The Solution: Maximum Protection with Minimal Effort

At first, the KRG DIT team explored various DDoS protection methods and tools. However, they soon realized they needed a reliable, hassle-free solution that could provide continuous security without requiring deep technical expertise.

They found the perfect fit with StormWall’s cloud-based website DDoS protection, which offered:

• Seamless integration with existing infrastructure
• Automatic, effective mitigation of DDoS attacks
• Easy implementation with minimal configuration.

“StormWall has given us the assurance of cloud DDoS protection. Combined with our smaller on-premises DDoS and WAF protection, we’re mostly safe and sound when it comes to DDoS attacks,” says Shkar Noori. 

Deployment: Fast and Simple Setup

The protection was deployed within just a few hours, with specialists quickly redirecting traffic to StormWall via DNS.

During setup, the KRG DIT team faced some initial network configuration challenges, particularly with IP access restrictions and SSL setup. However, StormWall’s experts provided immediate assistance, resolving all issues almost instantly.

The transition was seamless, with no major downtime or disruptions to operations.

The Results: Robust Security and Seamless Operation

By implementing StormWall’s DDoS protection, the gov.krd team achieved exceptional results:

✅ Effective mitigation of even the largest DDoS attacks, reaching tens or hundreds of gigabits per second
✅ Uninterrupted access to essential government services, with zero downtime from malicious traffic
✅ Automated security, requiring minimal effort from the team.

“StormWall delivers robust, easy-to-use DDoS protection. We’ve relied on it for years because it just works,” says Shkar Noori, Head of DevOps, KRG Department of Information Technology.