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Esphion provides the cornerstone of Internet security protection for one of Australia’s largest web hosting companies
The company
Since mid 2004 one of Australia’s largest web hosting companies
has been working with Esphion, using the netDeFlect proactive network
security solution to protect both itself and its customers from distributed
denial of service (DDoS) attacks. The company provides web hosting for
some of Australia’s largest public and private sector organizations,
and provides a number of additional services such as electronic commerce
and payment solutions.
The problem
Over recent years the increased threat – and increasing occurrence
- of DDoS attacks had created concern within the web hosting company.
It wanted to mitigate the possibility of such attacks impacting its
own network through infrastructure damage and the potential for traffic
and network flow interruptions to disrupt its customers’ businesses.
Historically the company had worked with its customers to identify server problems and possible DDoS attacks. Once a concern had been raised, the hosting company’s engineers would quickly conduct a manual check of the log files of all switches and routers to locate and identify the problem. The incidents were speedily resolved, usually within 15 minutes to a maximum of half an hour. The longest delay in the entire proceedings was usually the time it took for the customer to identify and phone through the initial advice.
However, for any business reliant upon online communications or transactions, a half-hour delay can be crucial. With Internet threats becoming increasingly aggressive and the attacks more frequent, the hosting company decided it was time to complement its existing security program with a proactive layer of network defense.
The solution
The web hosting company installed netDeFlect, Esphion’s patented
network security solution. A single, standalone netDeFlect agent was
deployed, connecting to the company’s two data centres to provide
the new layer of DDoS protection.
To provide early warning of any build-up in traffic, the agent’s
sensor is connected to a series of Layer 3 switches located upstream
of the company’s border routers, as close to the boundary with
its ISP as possible.
At the first detection of a possible DDoS attack, netDeFlect produces a fine-grained attack signature which is applied in the form of an access control list (ACL) to the Layer 3 switches. This is then used to block all traffic originating from the source of the DDoS attack (regardless of whether the addresses are spoofed) before it reaches any critical network infrastructure.
The immediacy offered by netDeFlect has helped to dramatically reduce the average resolution time for a network attack to just five minutes. Perhaps more importantly, by adding this proactive layer of defense the web hosting company has been able to improve service and ensure a greater ability to maintain service levels for its customers, regardless of network anomalies.
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Esphion is there to detect anomalous
behavior in your unique network environment - we don't care whether
it is an attack that has a name and a signature or not - if it
is determined to have the potential to disrupt your network we
will provide you a solution to block it before it does. Think
of us as a highly intelligent virtual network and security engineer
watching network links 24x7x365.
Mark Edwards, CEO, Esphion |
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