[bkanber]

The fact that there are sentient actors behind the DDoS _is_ the difference.

You can reliably predict and protect against things like network outages, server failures, full datacenter failures (black mold)--you can directly measure their impact and plan failover paths. A DB server goes out? Whatever! That's why you have a hot backup or two online and ready to go.

What you can't predict is exactly how far a malicious third party will go to hurt you. You can't predict how many dollars they'll spend on their botnet minutes. You don't know if they're going to attack your infrastructure or the DNS. Can buying more bandwidth fix the problem? If so, how much more? And will the attacker simply up the ante when they see that you're recovering? Can filtering requests fix the problem? If so, will the attacker provision different resources to attack you with?

This isn't simply a matter of infrastructure, buying the right equipment, or setting things up "just right" precisely because there is a sentient actor trying to hurt you. It's more like a game of chess.