System and method for mitigating a denial of service attack using cloud computing

A method for mitigating a denial of service attack comprising:

• distributing network communication messages directed at a resource within a resource cloud using a load balancer;
• directing the distributed network communication messages to a plurality of filter nodes;
• filtering the network communication messages with filter nodes according to filter parameters that relate to legitimacy of a communication message;
• and
• selectively sending the communication message to the resource if the communication message is filtered as legitimate or performing a request limiting response to the communication message if the communication message is filtered as illegitimate.