Web watchdog sniffs out sneak attacks

Remember the so-called denial-of-service computer network attacks that shut down Internet giants Amazon.com, Yahoo! and eBay back in February? They do. So do the Internet service providers that the attackers used to travel across the Net.

And that's what Asta Networks is counting on.

The Seattle company, named for the terrier in Dashiell Hammett's "The Thin Man," is expected to announce next week that it has begun deploying its software on Internet2 to stop such attacks from happening again. Internet2 is the separate, high-speed network linking 170 universities across the country and capable of handling data at gigabits-per-second speed.

Exodus Communications, the giant Internet data center that hosts servers of some of the best-known Web sites, including MSNBC and Yahoo!, is testing the company's software.

The denial-of-service incidents in February were successful because the attackers programmed a large number of computers to simultaneously flood sites with overwhelming traffic, effectively shutting them down. It's as if someone had programmed all the cars in Seattle to drive into Nordstrom's front door at the same time and real shoppers were blocked out.

The February attacks cost the companies $1.2 billion, according to the Yankee Group. Companies such as Exodus are hit with denial-of-service attacks several times a week.

"Right now there's a vacuum in this area," said co-founder David Wetherall. "Our focus is on reliability, on keeping a Web site up during a denial-of-service attack."

Asta provides a way for Internet service providers and others to watch for these attacks and combat them without blocking legitimate customers from getting to a site. Asta's software comes in a bright green box, the Asta Network Sensor, which can be hooked up to devices called routers that direct data traffic at Internet service companies. The box watches for attacks, sensing the traffic patterns that herald their arrival, and block them as soon as they hit a router.

Asta's founders are University of Washington faculty members and one graduate student. One of the projects that Chief Executive Tom Anderson worked on was spun off into Internet infrastructure company Inktomi.

Co-founder and board member Daniel Weld also co-founded Netbot, an Internet shopping technology now part of Excite@Home, and AdRelevance, which has since been acquired by Media Metrix.

Wetherall, chief technology officer, has researched computer systems for the past 10 years and worked for an Australian company that led the development of standards for high-speed metropolitan-area networks.

Stefan Savage, the student who holds the title of chief scientist, has pending faculty offers from University of California-Berkeley, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.

The four raised $3 million for their first round of funding from Madrona Venture Group and Arch Venture Partners.

Asta set up shop in Eastlake in April this year, after the founders published a well-received paper on denial-of-service attacks. Seven routers sit in a refrigerated kitchen-size room in back to simulate an Internet service provider. In the tradition of levity that characterizes technology companies, each is named for an X-Men character.

Sharon Pian Chan's phone number is 206-464-2958.