Level 3 launches BGP Flowspec on global backbone
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Level 3 launches BGP Flowspec on global backbone

Level 3 Communications has enhanced security on its network by becoming, it claims, the first carrier to deploy Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Flowspec on its global backbone.

BGP Flowspec uses the BGP protocol, of internet routers communicating with one another to distribute flow specification filters to network routers, rapidly mitigating threats across its backbone. If a threat is identified, the Level 3 DDoS infrastructure inputs a rule to block or deny traffic related to the threat by its source, destination and a number of other characteristics.

The capability is “one of the largest deployments in the industry,” Level 2 says, and it will leverage more than 43Tb of its backbone capacity and protect its peering points.

"Enterprises face a new cybersecurity challenge every day – from pre-attack scans to malware to increased volumetric DDoS attacks,” said Anthony Christie, chief marketing officer at Level 3.

“They need adaptive and efficient solutions to protect their business, security personnel bench strength to avoid draining their limited resources and a secure network they can depend on. Our global deployment of BGP Flowspec provides unparalleled capacity and protection from large-scale attacks. Level 3's trained professionals manage this powerful tool so that customers can scale for business growth, not cyber defence."

Security operations centre professionals in five Level 3 global locations are trained to use the BGP Flowspec tool, which is built into Level 3's network protection and DDoS mitigation services.

Chris Rodriguez, senior industry analyst of network security at Frost & Sullivan, added: "Enterprises need a solution that scales, can provide swift mitigation and has the capacity to handle the 500Gbps attacks targeting corporations today. Using the power of BGP Flowspec, Level 3's DDoS mitigation and network protect security products offer the scalability, rapid response times and network-based cloud solutions enterprises need to mitigate DDoS attacks that are only increasing in frequency, magnitude and sophistication."





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