Modern Network Security: The Migration to Deep Packet Inspection

Overview

The evolution of network and application-layer security threats has significantly altered the requirements for modern network security architecture. Three years ago, a simple Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) Firewall was sufficient to stop basic attacks such as port scans and DoS attacks. Now, application-layer buffer overflow attacks, Spam, Spyware, Polymorphic Trojans, Blended Threats, Phishing and Pharming are causing unprecedented amounts of financial damage and loss of productivity. To detect and prevent these threats, a completely new kind of security system is required. This system is based on Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology, where the appliance has the brains and the horsepower to inspect every byte of every packet, even across multiple thousands of streams of packets.