Mazu Filters DDoS Attack Packets

Mazu Networks Inc. on Monday will begin shipping the second piece of its anti-DDoS product line, TrafficMasterEnforcer.

The new component of the TrafficMaster line acts as the active filtering mechanism used to guard against distributed denial of service attacks against Web sites.

TrafficMasterEnforcer is able to differentiate between attack traffic and normal traffic to a Web site and can stop the former within seconds, according to Mazu officials. It uses a set of statistics gleaned from the network during normal operation in order to identify the attack packets.

Enforcer is an in-line device that sits at the edge of the users network and is able to send filtering instructions to routers or perform the filtering itself, company officials said. It is the companion to Mazus previously released Inspector, which performs passive monitoring and analysis of DDoS attacks.

The new Enforcer product is available in three configurations: single link Fast-E, single link Gig-E and multiple link Fast-E.

Officials at Mazu, of Cambridge, Mass., said they have noticed a strong interest in anti-DDoS technology specifically and security products in general of late, especially since the terrorist attacks of last month.

"Weve seen an increase in urgency since Sept. 11," said Phil London, CEO of Mazu. "People are realizing its a really complicated, very diverse problem. A head in the sand solution isnt going to work with this."

DDoS attacks have been on the increase for some time and London believes that trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

"There are a number of indications that the trend is toward a substantial increase in attacks," he said. "Service providers say that the average number of attacks per week is increasing."