Nominum launches industry-first tools to preserve broadband access during DNS-based DDoS attacks

Redwood City, USA, December 18, 2013  ̶  Nominum^TM, the provider of integrated subscriber, network, and security solutions for communication service providers (CSPs), today announced the launch of its Vantio CacheServe 5.4 software, which introduces ground-breaking rate limiting technology to allow CSPs to minimize the effect of DNS amplification attacks on network performance.

Nominum’s Vantio CacheServe 5.4 introduces industry-leading precision policies which can be used to rate limit DNS traffic based on specific criteria, including by type of query, by client IP or response size.

The release of the latest version of Vantio CacheServe follows the worldwide launch of Nominum’s network security solution Vantio ThreatAvert last month. ThreatAvert  combines the power of the Vantio CacheServe and its precision policies with the Global Intelligence Xchange (GIX) platform, a real-time database of malware threats, to provide a foundational security layer to protect CSPs from threats emanating from within networks. 

Vantio CacheServe DNS software has a proven track record of defending against multiple attacks including botnet related activities, malware exploits, DNS amplification, DoS / DDoS, and outbound spam. The latest version of the software includes upgrades allowing:

–       Improved broadband subscriber experience during an attack by increasing bandwidth availability and decreasing the response time of DNS infrastructure

–       Increased protection of server and bandwidth resources

–       A reduction in the number of customers impacted by attacks, resulting in fewer complaints

Hari Krishnan, Director of Product Management, Nominum, says: “Sophisticated DNS amplification attacks are becoming an increasingly common problem for CSPs, who have a responsibility to their end-users to deploy the most advanced protection for network infrastructure to minimize impact to customer experience.

“Nominum is committed to developing ground-breaking security solutions to help CSPs protect themselves, and their customers, by leveraging the expertise derived from our rich heritage in developing the DNS architecture used by CSPs around the world.”

Craig Sprosts, VP of Product Management, Nominum, says: “The new precision policies that have been applied to Vantio CacheServe and Vantio ThreatAvert provide the only way to stop the latest DNS amplification attacks using the DNS itself, without blocking legitimate traffic.   Only a month ago we launched Vantio ThreatAvert, which combines precision policies with the unique capability of Nominum’s GIX platform to detect attacks hours, or even days, before alternative solutions. The additional precision policies available in this release, plus the real-time threat updates delivered by GIX, provide unmatched protection against this critical threat to our customers worldwide.”