Patent ID: 7246376

Claim:
A device for communicating with a network, the device storing content accessible by other devices communicating with the network, the device including: a first counter associated with a first content identifier, the first content identifier associated with a first type of content used to adversely affecting the performance of the device; a first threshold value associated with the first counter; a second counter associated with a second content identifier, the second content identifier being associated with a second type of content, the second type of content being general content, and a request for the general content being a legitimate request; a second threshold value associated with the second counter, wherein the second threshold is determined by monitoring traffic to identify an expected number of legitimate requests for the general content, and wherein the second threshold value is higher than the expected number of requests; means for incrementing the first counter in response to receipt of a threatening request including the first content identifier and for incrementing the second counter in response to receipt of a legitimate request including the second content identifier; means for discarding the threatening request in response to the value of the first counter exceeding the first threshold value; and means for discarding the legitimate request in response to the value of the second counter exceeding the second threshold value.