StealthWatch and Cisco Guard DDoS Mitigation Appliances Interoperability
Protect Critical Web Servers to Retain Vital Revenue Streams
DDoS attacks involve a multitude of compromised systems attacking a single target, thereby causing denial of service for users of the targeted system. The flood of incoming messages to the target system essentially forces it to shut down, denying service to the system and to legitimate users. Sophisticated masking techniques such as spoofing, encryption, and the use of multiple tiers of bots make these attacks difficult to detect, hard to defend against and nearly impossible to stop. Without the right protection, DDoS attacks can cost businesses billions of dollars a year in lost revenue.
StealthWatch and Cisco Guard interoperate to provide an ideal Enterprise solution that counters DDoS attacks and provides unprecedented levels of protection against today’s increasingly complex and elusive attacks. This unique Enterprise DDoS solution combines StealthWatch’s rapid response with Cisco Guard DDoS protection in order to prevent the compromise of mission-critical and revenue-bearing operations. Moreover, StealthWatch quickly identifies and troubleshoots traffic bottlenecks, worm propagation and points of network slowdown to improve network security, performance and availability.
How Does It Work?
Enterprises depend on StealthWatch’s network visibility to determine precisely when DDoS protection is necessary. Through the StealthWatch Management Console (SMC), StealthWatch provides optional mitigation capabilities that can run either automatically or under proper authorization only. By raising an alarm configured specifically for Cisco Guard mitigation, StealthWatch then directs Cisco Guard to divert traffic destined for targeted devices – and only that traffic – for inspection and cleansing. All other traffic continues to flow freely, reducing the impact on overall business operations while increasing the number of devices or zones Cisco Guard can protect.
StealthWatch provides additional value in the battle against malware by quickly identifying compromised hosts and optimizing the incident response process in order to dramatically reduce the window of time from threat identification to resolution.
Other StealthWatch Benefits
Operates Out of Band to Provide Enterprise-Wide Visibility
StealthWatch provides Enterprise-wide visibility into host and network behaviors including graphical representation of traffic and attention-focusing visual cues.
Cost-Effective and Highly Scalable Solution
StealthWatch provides a cost-effective alternative for both securing and understanding what you don't already know about your network.
User Accountability
StealthWatch promotes ever increasing levels of accountability by integrating with many common authentication stores to identify users, not just IP addresses.
1Gartner, “Hype Cycle for Infrastructure Protection, 2006,” 10 July 2006, ID Number: G00141156
