DoS defense betas on Internet2

A company consisting of grad students and faculty from the University of Washington, formed earlier this year, is beta-testing what it believes will be a major part of the solution to denial-of-service attacks. Asta Networks believes the only way to counter the overwhelming demand that a distributed DoS attack puts on Websites is to implement a distributed system around the Internet that recognizes and blocks malicious overloads. According to the company, effective defenses against DoS must be installed at the ISP level and higher.

The company's software is currently being tested on the high-speed Internet2 backbone where the next-generation Internet protocol is being used by more than 180 public and private institutions such as the California State University system, Carnegie Mellon, Florida A&M and MIT for massive data transfers. Internet2 is being developed by "a consortium of universities, working with government agencies and industry leaders such as IBM, C-SPAN, AT&T, Boeing, Phantom Works, Hitachi, and Global Crossing."

For more information, read wired.com and astanetworks.com.