Understanding the Recent DDoS Attack Against Read the Docs
Summary
Read the Docs recounts a large-scale DDoS in June 2026, peaking at 5.5 million requests per minute and lasting nearly ten days. The post analyzes attack patterns, defense gaps (notably in bypassing caching), and the defensive strategies that helped maintain availability, including edge caching, rate limiting, fingerprinting, and IaC-managed WAF rules. It emphasizes that IP-based blocks are insufficient for distributed attacks and distills actionable lessons for future readiness.