New chip may protect against Denial of Service attack

A chip that could offer a much-needed line of defence against hackers was announced by US-based firms Juniper Network and Metromedia Fiber Network (MFN) Monday.

The chip -- Internet Processor II -- can, say its creators, filter an unprecedented amount of Internet traffic without affecting the performance of a Web site. According to Juniper, the Internet Processor II can filter 20 million packets of data per second, many times more than existing packet filtering software.

A principle application for the chip could be am improved method of detecting and stopping denial of service (DoS) attacks and might well prove useful in fending off the distributed Denial of Service strikes (DDoS) that brought down major Web sites in February.

Senior vice president for Metromedia Fiber Network a US technology specialist says the new chip is a handy addition to any network's arsenal of anti-hacking equipment.

"We have been building up security in our network against denial of service attacks and unauthorised access to application servers, but lacked an effective solution that let us apply complex filters and still maintain wire-speed performance," he says. "The Internet Processor II is a valuable new addition to our arsenal of preventive measures against DoS attacks."

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