AWS Shield Standard: Automatic Protection for AWS Resources

Amazon Web Services provides Shield Standard automatically to all AWS customers without additional charges. This baseline protection defends against most common DDoS attacks targeting AWS resources. The automatic nature means protection activates without configuration or awareness requirements.

Shield Standard protects Elastic Load Balancers, CloudFront distributions, and Route 53 hosted zones. These services commonly face DDoS attacks as public-facing infrastructure components. Protection includes SYN/ACK floods, UDP reflection attacks, and other volumetric assaults. AWS's network capacity absorbs attacks without impacting protected resources.

Global threat intelligence enhances protection effectiveness. AWS observes attacks across millions of customers, identifying emerging patterns quickly. This collective defense improves protection for all customers automatically. Machine learning models adapt to new attack techniques without manual updates. The scale of AWS's operation provides unique defensive advantages.

Significant limitations restrict Shield Standard's effectiveness for sophisticated attacks. Application-layer attacks receive minimal protection without additional services. No DDoS response team assists during attacks. Cost protection doesn't apply, meaning attack-induced scaling charges remain customer responsibility. These limitations often necessitate upgrading to Shield Advanced for critical workloads.