Asta Networks claims cure for denial-of-service attacks

Asta Networks Wednesday will announce it has developed router-based software that can detect Internet denial-of-service attacks within moments, giving targeted companies precious time to react.

The Seattle company's software detected a series of denial-of-service attacks over the Internet between Christmas and New Year's, demonstrating what the company says is the first automated system for protection against this type of attack.

Denial-of-service attacks can flood the systems of an Internet company such as an e-commerce retailer with so many messages that they shut down or can't carry out the company's normal business. Such attacks last year shut down major Web sites including Yahoo, CNN.com and Amazon.com. They normally are made up of ordinary types of packets that do damage just by overloading the online companies' infrastructures.

Asta's software, installed on a router on the Internet backbone, uses proprietary algorithms to detect the kinds of packet streams that constitute denial-of-service attacks. It can identify an attack and discover its source within moments after it starts, according to a statement from the company. Because it can examine the traffic flows without looking in to every single packet, it does not slow the flow of traffic through the network, Asta said.

If attacks can be detected quickly and their sources discovered, companies can take steps to block the disruptive messages soon enough to limit the resulting downtime.

When the test took place, Asta was running the software on routers on the Internet 2 Abilene backbone, a next-generation Internet backbone currently being used by some academic researchers and technology companies. However, Abilene is connected to the Internet, and the attacks that were detected originated on the main Internet, the statement said. The software detected attacks using both static and "spoofed," or faked, Internet addresses. The attacks included "smurf," "fraggle" and SYN flood attacks, Asta said.

A commercial version of Asta's software will be available later this year, according to the Asta statement.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.