During routine monitoring, a cloud-based application hosting provider detects an anomaly suggesting an ongoing DDoS...

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation (ECIH-aligned):

The ECIH Network Security Incident Handling module emphasizes maintaining availability while mitigating denial-of-service attacks. The objective is not simply to stop traffic, but to distinguish malicious traffic from legitimate user requests.

Option D is correct because rate limiting and challenge-response mechanisms (such as CAPTCHA or SYN cookies) allow legitimate traffic to continue while throttling or blocking malicious requests. This approach minimizes service disruption while effectively containing the attack.

Option A may increase costs and still fail against large-scale DDoS attacks. Option B can unintentionally block legitimate users. Option C contradicts ECIH guidance by unnecessarily impacting availability.

ECIH stresses proportional and intelligent mitigation strategies that preserve business continuity. Therefore, implementing rate limiting and challenge-response mechanisms is the preferred strategy.