AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwire - November 3, 2009) - Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks have become an enormous risk, shutting down businesses, halting bank transactions and disrupting government communications. This past summer, DDoS attacks were rampant, most notably in July, when cyber attacks, created with the help of botnets, targeted a number of government, news media and financial Web sites in South Korea and the United States. Just a month later, several social networking services, including Twitter, Facebook and Google, were struck with DDoS attacks, crippling services for hours.

DDoS attacks are an imminent threat to all business and government networks and one of the reasons BreakingPoint is hosting a webcast and publishing a DDoS and Botnet Test Methodology. During the webcast, to be held on November 4, 2009, participants will learn how to replicate DDoS and botnet attacks in order to validate the performance and security of a network before an attack occurs. All webcast registrants will also receive a copy of the test methodology.

Register now for the BreakingPoint webcast on November 4, 2009 and receive the "BreakingPoint DDoS and Botnet Test Methodology".

Prepare for the Inevitable DDoS and Botnet Attack

A DDoS attack attempts to make a computer resource unavailable for others to use, and it can range from a simple SYN Flood to the more advanced service-specific attacks. As DDoS and botnet attacks have become more frequent and damaging, it has become more important to test network equipment and application servers with these same attacks in mind. Only through realistic attack simulation can you determine how equipment and the network will respond under attack. The "BreakingPoint DDoS and Botnet Test Methodology" replicates a variety of attacks to help users find their network weaknesses before others do. Such attacks include the following:

  -- DDoS attacks designed to consume all available bandwidth, all disk
     space or all available CPU cycles
  -- DDoS attacks designed to disrupt important information flow such as
     routing tables by injecting false routes, thus causing packets to
     be misrouted
  -- DDoS attacks designed to break the physical layer of the network and
     obstruct the communication between the end point and the user
  -- Botnet attacks designed to send large quantities of unsolicited e-mail
     to trigger Delivery Server Notifications to spoofed originating email
     addresses

Comment from BreakingPoint CTO and Co-founder Dennis Cox

"Denial of service attacks come in all forms. There is the Digg effect, where a service becomes so popular so quickly that it becomes inaccessible. There are also malicious DDoS attacks, when a competitor attacks your services in order to deny your customers access. Finally, we even see the life-threatening DDoS attack, such as when the Eastern European syndicates decide to blackmail your business. Understanding and replicating all the possible DDoS and botnet scenarios are two things our team at BreakingPoint was created to do."

Register now for the BreakingPoint webcast on November 4, 2009 and receive the "BreakingPoint DDoS and Botnet Test Methodology".

Additional BreakingPoint Test Methodology Resources

BreakingPoint provides a library of test methodologies designed to help equipment manufacturers, service providers, and enterprise and government buyers validate the performance, security and resiliency of a range of network equipment, including the following:

  Firewall Test Methodology
  The BreakingPoint Firewall Test Methodology is designed to evaluate
  firewalls and will identify the performance characteristics of these
  devices as they operate in a production environment. BreakingPoint
  details firewall testing in this test methodology.

  Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) Test Methodology
  Intrusion Prevention Systems require constant testing in order to verify
  that the device is working properly, even after every upgrade and/or
  signature set. BreakingPoint details how to test IPS through the
  simulation of realistic global network traffic.

  Server Load Balancer Test Methodology
  When performing server load balancer testing, it is important to ensure
  that the device under testing performs well and processes transactions
  reliably under adverse conditions, such as extreme loads, security
  attacks and other anomalies. BreakingPoint explains how to test server
  load balancers under the most realistic conditions.

  Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) Test Methodology
  Effective testing of DPI functionality requires an authentic blend of
  application traffic with live security strikes, at line-rate speeds.
  In this test methodology, BreakingPoint examines how to test DPI
  capabilities in any network device.

About BreakingPoint

BreakingPoint accelerates the development and testing of high-performance, content-aware network equipment; ensures network resiliency; and reduces time to test with fast, accurate, responsive and easy-to-use application, performance and security testing tools. BreakingPoint is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with offices around the world. For more information, visit breakingpoint.com and download the latest test methodologies for firewall testing, IPS testing, server load balancer testing and more.