Riverhead Protects Rackspace

CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Riverhead Networksä, a leading provider of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) solutions that ensure business continuity for ISPs, data centers and large enterprises, today announced that Rackspace Managed Hosting, a leading managed hosting provider based in San Antonio, Texas, has selected Riverhead Networks to provide a critical component of the provider's pioneering PrevenTier DDoS protection services. The Riverhead solution will be used to analyze suspected attack traffic to identify and block malicious flows while allowing valid transactions through.

Evolving Security Offering

PrevenTier - the first of its kind by a managed hosting provider - grew out of a custom offering developed by Rackspace to provide DDoS protection for a select group of enterprise customers. That offering, which utilized the Riverhead solution, was a success, and Rackspace invested the resources required to extend the protection to its entire customer base as a value-added service.

"Many of our customers have been victims of cyber attacks, and we saw this as an opportunity to deliver a truly valuable service that could stop those attacks and ensure business continuity for our installed base," said Paul Froutan, vice president of engineering, Rackspace Managed Hosting. "The primary objective was to block malicious traffic while allowing legitimate transactions to pass, and we knew from experience that the Riverhead solution met that requirement. PrevenTier, with Riverhead as a key component, helps ensure the uptime of our customers' mission critical web applications."

"As the impact of DDoS attacks continues to grow more severe, customers are increasingly asking their service providers to provide protection," said Yuval Rachmilevitz, CEO of Riverhead. "With this managed service, Rackspace has demonstrated that it listens to its customers and delivers value-added services that will significantly extend its leadership. Riverhead is proud to contribute a DDoS solution that delivers the automation and scalability required to make PrevenTier truly unique and powerful."

Leading DDoS Solutions

Rackspace will deploy Riverhead Networks' vanguard product, the Riverhead Guardä, to perform per-flow analysis on suspected attack traffic to identify and block malicious packets.

When a DDoS attack is launched against a Rackspace customer, PrevenTier's monitoring systems will immediately recognize the threat and alert the Guard to begin mitigation services. All traffic destined for the targeted device will be diverted through the Guard for further per-flow analysis and scrubbing.

The Guard applies a series of patented anti-spoofing, anomaly detection and protocol analysis technologies based on Riverhead's Multi-Verification Processä (MVP) architecture to identify and remove bad packets while allowing "good" packets to pass, ensuring business continuity. Working together in a single solution, these technologies detect and block today's most stealthy attacks to provide Rackspace customers with reliable, uninterrupted service.

Riverhead Networks Inc.

Rackspace Managed Hosting