Because network threats keep evolving, so do prevention mechanisms. This week at NXTcomm08 in Las Vegas, Arbor Networks is unveiling new capabilities for its Arbor PeakFlow SP Threat Management System, which protects networks from a new breed of attack that targets servers and other network resources.

“We have been very focused on threats in Layer 3 and Layer 4, where the attacks are focused on trying to exhaust bandwidth coming into the server,” said Rob Malan, co-founder and chief technology officer for Arbor. “But now we are looking at Layer 7, as [denial of service] attacks have evolved a bit and have been trying to attack more from the application stack.”

This kind of attack involves activity that ties up server resources by flooding the server with what appear to be legitimate requests, Malan said.

In addition, the latest version of the Peakflow SP TMS includes workflow improvements that will make the system easier to use, regardless of the infrastructure or architecture involved, Malan said. Improvements include auto-mitigation tools that let service providers set thresholds for specific levels of attack and templates that make it easy to replicate services in a seamless manner.

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