Newbie here, but I have a bunch of countermeasures in place for all mission-critical sites I run. A straight-on DDoS is still pretty effective, but only if the host is retarded. Defending against it is as simple as employing the same tactics they use (keyword: Distribution). Great paper about the basics: http://lasr.cs.ucla.edu/ddos/ucla_te...ort_020018.pdf

Don't agree with gore's assessment at all - it is not correct.