
Securing the Core 163
the network. However, as these mechanisms are inserted directly into the forwarding path,
they do have an impact on packet forwarding rates, especially on software-based platforms.
As such, these features should be applied with care and due consideration given to the
environment where they are to be applied. The concept of a traffic anomaly—that is,
understanding the customer and SP traffic patterns and detecting deltas in these patterns—
is important in order for the service provider to determine whether or not a spike in traffic
is due to a DoS or DDoS attack.
Similarly, the customer may wish to provide some degree of access ...