In recent blog posts we have been discussing various aspects of security including worms, virus and trojans. This block list case study provides a concrete example of how Accolade technology can be leveraged to create a cloud-based threat prevention platform. The platform utilizes a Xilinx UltraScale+ SmartNIC with FPGA block list firmware and software from Accolade Technology. The FPGA-based card is used for the sole purpose of continually tracking and blocking up to 200 million malicious IP addresses at 100 Gbps speeds. The deployment is entirely inline, which means the blocking is happening in real time on live network traffic. Trying to do this with conventional hardware and software is nearly impossible at the scale required.

The company has a team of security and software experts that produce their own network threat assessments utilizing the latest innovations in machine learning and firsthand sources for data collection, including a worldwide sensor network. The team was surprised to learn that the SmartNIC could send malicious traffic to analysis servers which the team could then use to strengthen their understanding of new threat vectors and even discover some zero-day threats. In other words, because of the FPGA SmartNIC, researchers were gathering previously unseen virus data which aided in finding novel new threats that had never been detected before.

To test drive an Accolade SmartNIC or learn how it can enhance your security appliance, please contact us at [email protected].