Patent ID: 7987493
Filing Date: 2011-07-26
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for mitigating distributed denial of service (DoS) attacks among network elements, comprising: deploying one or more DoS mitigating devices, shared among more than one customer, in the packet network in a distributed manner to intercept DoS traffic to mitigate DoS attacks to one or more network elements operating in the packet network; configuring the one or more DoS mitigating devices from a central location prior to a DoS attack; providing from the central location a user-configurable policy for each network element to the one or more DoS mitigating devices to establish an amount of mitigation to occur for each network element when the DoS attack occurs; storing the user-configurable policy in the one or more DoS mitigating devices; determining at least one of the one or more DoS mitigating devices is closest to one or more sources of the DoS attack; sending from the central location to the one or more DoS mitigating devices an adjustment of the user-configurable policy, wherein the adjustment includes a manipulation to support different needs of the more than one customer; adjusting the amount of mitigation to the DoS attack for each network element based on the adjustment of the user-configurable policy stored in the one or more DoS mitigating devices, wherein packets are re-routed into the DoS mitigating devices as determined by a service provider, based on a pre-arranged agreement with the more than one customer, or a combination thereof; and when detected in the packet network, starting the mitigation of the DoS attack to the one or more network elements by the at least one of the one or more DoS mitigating devices closest to the one or more sources of the DoS attack and in accordance with the one or more user-configurable policies.