Systems and methods for software defined behavioral DDoS attack mitigation are provided. According to one embodiment, a method is provided for controlling multiple distributed denial of service (DDoS) mitigation appliances. A DDoS attack mitigation central controller configures attack mitigation policies for the DDoS attack mitigation appliances. The DDoS attack mitigation policies are sent to the DDoS attack mitigation appliances through a network connecting the DDoS attack mitigation central controller and the DDoS attack mitigation appliances.