A couple weeks ago, CloudFlare (content delivery network - CDN and cloud security platform) was demanding repeated captcha “real person” verifications when trying to post edits to the Gramps-project wiki. This seems to have been in response to a denial-of-service (DoS) attack.
Today, it is giving 502 Bad Gateway errors. (Reloading the current page seems to deliver a page.)
Where is CloudFlare inserted when resolving a URL?
I tried using dig gramps-project.org A to learn the IP address of the server and bypass the DNS. But apparently CloudFlare denies access by IP!! When did that become a ‘thing’?
2015: Cloudflare launches DNS, Web Security, and Web Performance services[1].
2016: Cloudflare introduces Secure Registrar, Rate Limiting, and Load Balancing[1].
2017: Cloudflare launches unmetered DDoS mitigation, IoT security, video services, and intelligent routing[1].
September 25, 2017: Cloudflare announces “Unmetered Mitigation,” providing DDoS protection without limits to all customers[6].
2018: Cloudflare reaches 67,900 customers generating US$193 million in revenue[1].
Emergence of Competitors
While specific founding dates for all competitors are not provided in the search results, here are some key players in the DDoS protection market as of 2025:
By 2025, these companies have established themselves as major players in the DDoS protection market, competing with Cloudflare in various aspects of cybersecurity and content delivery[4].