December 7, 2009

Black Lotus Launches Green Cloud Hosting With Built-In DDoS Protection Services

Filed under: Announcements, Marketing — Tags: , — admin @ 3:36 pm

Website owners can now get environmentally-friendly cloud hosting with built-in DDoS protection services.

Virginia Beach, VA (PRWEB) Dec. 7, 2009 – Black Lotus, a leading DDoS protection services company, announced today its new LotusCloud VM service, the first environmentally-friendly virtual server hosted in the cloud with high-end DDoS protection built-in. Website owners get the added security of DDoS protection without having to purchase DDoS protection services separately.

“Customers needing to rapidly deploy DDoS protected servers can use LotusCloud VM to do so on their own terms, with the exact configuration they need, all at an affordable price while helping the environment,” said Jeffrey Lyons, Director of Black Lotus. “Bare metal dedicated servers utilize an average of 40 to 460 watts of power, whereas LotusCloud VM only uses 7 watts per server, drastically reducing energy cost and carbon footprint.”

LotusCloud VM is a cloud protected by a cloud. Each LotusCloud VM instance is hosted on the Black Lotus Enterprise Network with pre-configured DDoS protection services. LotusCloud VM customers can include the hardware, OS, and software without checking or waiting for server availability for the ultimate in on-demand cloud hosting with DDoS protection services already added.

“LotusCloud VM is a low cost ‘in the cloud’ virtual DDoS protected dedicated server allowing customers to enjoy the same performance at a better price. In fact, a highly available, multi-core RAID environment is extremely affordable starting at $99.00 per month,” said Lyon. “With DDoS protection services already added to each LotusCloud VM, customers are ready to host their websites without having to worry about robots attacking and destroying their data.”

What used to take days to configure, is now automatically built-in to the existing cloud infrastructure using LAMP. Traditionally, the installation of LAMP management and custom configuration could have taken days, now it is all automated with the click of a mouse. Black Lotus customers wanting the built-in DDoS protection service can purchase LotusCloud VM pre-configured with cPanel/WHM, Litespeed web servers, and other security and performance tuning that comes standard with the LAMP product.

“Unlike any other cloud service in the market today, Black Lotus provides automatic native DDoS protection for the entire environment at 1000 Mbps without the need to purchase add-ons or an upgraded service level,” said Lyon. “Leveraging experienced network engineers and security technology from RioRey, IntruGuard, Juniper and Cisco, the network is protected by an in-depth defensive strategy capable of isolating malicious traffic and processing bad packets on multiple layers through both packet inspection and trend analysis.”

LotusCloud VM is a unique DDoS protected cloud hosting solution. For the first time in the history of managed DDoS protection, LotusCloud VM breaks the 1 Gbps threshold for less than $100.00 a month. Black Lotus is the first DDoS protection services network to establish a cloud and offer an affordable virtualized product.

About Black Lotus

Black Lotus has been providing robust and cost effective DDoS protection solutions since 1999. As the first and leading DDoS protection services company, Black Lotus stops robots in their tracks with advanced distributed denial of service protection delivering enterprise grade solutions at a fraction of the cost. The Black Lotus Enterprise network is the only purpose-built DDoS protected hosting network designed to combat distributed denial of service attacks from the ground up utilizing 100% premium name brand bandwidth. With a rated capacity of up to 8 Gbps and 2,000,000 packets per second, Black Lotus delivers over 22 billion packets safely to their destination each month.

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November 26, 2009

The undetectable DDoS

Filed under: Technical — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:41 pm

For several years HTTP GET attacks have plagued web hosts with an extremely frustrating problem. These attacks are “low and slow” in the sense that only a few connections can slip through a network firewall or DDoS filter, cause a web server to respond to the seemingly valid request, and then generate hundreds of megabits or even gigabits of egress bandwidth utilization.

Traditionally the common response to this was to either null route the IP and hope the problem goes away, try to filter each IP by hand which requires many hours or even days plus a functional understanding of iptables, or perhaps as a last ditch effort the services of a DDoS mitigation provider like Black Lotus. The latter has been extremely popular in recent days as a new variant of this attack has been detected in the wild.

The problem now is that an infected host will connect to a web server, make a seemingly legitimate HTTP request, and then fall off the radar. This is real user behavior and does not constitute a DDoS or even a DoS, therefore no network filters or even local filters will detect or mitigate this attack. Real user behavior, however, does not translate into a real user as these connections are still infected hosts. When you add them by the tens of thousands you have a nearly undetectable DDoS attack. The release of this intelligence has been delayed to allow us proper time to lab the problem and determine a solution.

On Tuesday evening system engineers at Black Lotus released an update to the Application Firewall and DDoS protection proxy products that has proven successful in defeating these attacks. The solution is to capture the HTTP request and log it for future analysis. A cron job runs on a regular interval and examines the logs. If a certain resource, for instance a large file or image, has an abnormal number of requests it is assigned a score. The request is then dropped from the destination or the entire network depending on the score.

For sake of example let’s say http://www.foobar.com is receiving 100 requests per day while http://www.foobar.com/images/background.jpg is receiving 6000 requests per hour each from a separate IP address. Those IP addresses are then scored  considered for either immediate or future exclusion depending on the severity. After several cron runs the attackers are effectively isolated and blocked with a success rate of more than 75%. Over a period of several hours the botnet is fully identified and blocked from the destination or from the network.

This new technology is available standard with DDoS protection proxies and with the Application Firewall product that can be added to any Elite level service such as DDoS protected dedicated servers or the new environmentally friendly LotusCloud VM.

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October 1, 2009

Expansion efforts underway at Los Angeles facility.

Filed under: Announcements, Network Engineering — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:07 am

Engineer and Leadership Team member Shawn Marck speaks briefly about the network expansion efforts currently under way at the Los Angeles facility (video muted due to sound quality in the datacenter). An infrastructure cabinet in the background of yesterday’s video contains newly installed RioRey and Juniper security equipment designed to improve quality of service for Black Lotus customers and better assist us in handling the latest in capacity upgrades. With this upgrade TeliaSonera, a prominent European transit provider, is being added to our BGP blend.

Installation of the RioRey in particular marks the beginning of a new partnership between Black Lotus and RioRey in providing advanced DDoS protection security solutions. The RioRey product adds a number of new features and benefits to the Black Lotus arsenal. This installation augments gear already in place from other security vendors designed at detecting and shaping DDoS attack traffic.

While Black Lotus has always been a Juniper shop on the security side of the house the new Netscreen installation replaces security functions traditionally outsourced to our upstream networks and enhances overall performance by transitioning from CPU to ASIC based filtering thus substantially increasing the amount of packets per second that can be handled.

Today marks the Phase II commencement of these efforts.

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August 27, 2009

Black Lotus is featured in Ping! Zine

Filed under: Marketing — Tags: — admin @ 7:41 pm

pingzinecover1 If you were fortunate enough to find yourself at HostingCon 2009 you may have seen this issue of Ping! Zine floating around as it was left for distribution at numerous booths to include the Ping! Zine booth and our own Black Lotus booth. In the article captioned “Prevent DDoS Attacks,” PR specialist and technical writer Dave Young presents a 3rd party review of our services and the impact they have to companies in need of advanced DDoS protection services or who feel they may become the target of an attack.

The article provides a brief overview of our company history and the philosophy behind the services that we offer. Dave discusses our business strategies, product offerings, and how Black Lotus offers the leading edge in modern DDoS mitigation strategies.

The article can be downloaded here (approximately 9MB)

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August 25, 2009

Celebrating a successful HostingCon 2009

Filed under: Announcements, Marketing — Tags: , — admin @ 2:48 pm
hostingcon2009dc-004

We’re proud to announce that on August 11th we made our first public convention appearance and met with hundreds of customers, future customers, friends, and vendors. The atmosphere was simply amazing and it did not take long to realize that our marketing budget was well spent. The event was so successful that we decided to come back in 2010 as Platinum sponsors where we’ll be unveiling a new and exciting hardware platform currently in development!

Ping! Zine put out a great review of our company in their HostingCon issue which was distributed from our booth along with various schwag from our friends and vendors.

Perhaps the most exciting part for some was the video game offering. Rather than hand out some pens, paper, or stress balls we went totally unique and setup a four station Xbox 360 lab with Call of Duty 4!

Our exhibit wasn’t just fun and games. Our company President and VP of Operations were on hand to answer questions about the company vision and products we offer.  We were commonly asked to explain the threats and challenges behind offering DDoS protection. Many visitors wanted to know how they could protect themselves and their customers. They learned about how Black Lotus has been in the business of stopping attacks for nearly 10 years and the evolution of the Black Lotus product as the world’s first commercialized DDoS protection solution.

Don’t worry if you missed this event, we’ll be back next year in full force!

Visitors playing Call of Duty 4 at the Black Lotus exhibit, HostingCon 2009
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July 2, 2009

We’ve got HostingCon 2009 fever..

Filed under: Announcements, Marketing — Tags: — admin @ 2:29 pm
hostingcon_skids

Two skids wait at the dock for a July 2nd pickup with an ultimate destination in Landover, MD where they’ll be held until the show.

.. and the only cure is a prime location in the exhibit hall at the Gaylord National and more Call of Duty 4 than you can shake a stick at! August 10th through the 12th Black Lotus will be at the convention in full force rubbing elbows with customers, potential customers, vendors, industry gurus, and mostly just wasting a lot of time playing video games.

Don’t worry, we’re not the only ones who get to have fun! We’re setting up an additional four COD4 stations right in the middle of our exhibit directly at the main entrance so you don’t even have to walk far to get your game on. It’s not all fun and games though, HostingCon 2009 marks our first scheduled public appearance and a landmark opportunity to meet company executives and learn about the future of DDoS protection services. If you’ve been thinking of moving to Black Lotus the show is also a great time to learn about special offers and discounts available only to attendees!

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May 6, 2009

Black Lotus feature in Gawkwire

Filed under: Marketing — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:26 am

Source Gawkwire.com

Prevent DDoS Attacks with Black Lotus

Dave Young 05 May, 2009 06:35:00

Have a server or a website? Are they protected from distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks? If you have a server or a website and they are important to your organization, you need to do everything you can to protect them from major DDoS attacks. Meet Black Lotus (http://www.blacklotus.net).

“Every site and server is inherently vulnerable to DDoS,” says Jeffrey Lyon, president of Black Lotus. “Employing your own countermeasures or using a DDoS protection provider only enhances your chance of survival.”

About Black Lotus
Black Lotus offers a proxy service specifically designed to protect your server even if you are hosting with another provider. DDoS protected proxy service can be setup quickly to screen and mitigate malicious traffic before handing it off to a customer’s server. “Our product differs from the competition as it is significantly lower cost and completely screens the request before handoff ensuring that there is absolutely no accidental leakage of attack traffic,” says Lyon. “Now we have the ability to immediately stop affiliate spam by shutting down spam offenders within the proxy itself.”

The company also offers a lightweight version of the proxy product for customers who want to screen requests for malicious behavior such as SQL/XML attacks.

Get a server, get DDoS protection
Black Lotus offers managed website hosting and both managed and unmanaged dedicated servers. “Generally, when a customer contacts us we recommend a server package with full management as this will allow us to evaluate and mitigate threats at both the network and server level,” says Lyon. “Server packages also offer the most bang for your buck when it comes to sheer power and protection.”

Get more with a seal
Black Lotus offers a DDoS Protection verification seal program identifying that a website is protected from DDoS attacks “The seal program is incredibly important in the DDoS protection business since a lot of claims made by providers range from somewhat frivolous to outright scams, ” says Lyon.

DDoS protection starting at $35 a month
Many companies try to take advantage of customers who need DDoS protection services with prices ranging from $5,000 to $11,000. More customers are discovering more affordable, leading services such as Black Lotus. “We actually operate two brands. The Black Lotus brand has 1 Gbps protection packages starting at $229.00,” adds Lyon. “We also have our BLCC Gold brand  for as low as $35 per month.

DDoS protection for everyone
The advantages and needs for DDoS protection services are becoming more obvious. “Initially, DDoS protection was only something that those involved with IRC or some type of dubious activity might need,” says Lyon. “Around 2000 – 2003, we began seeing legitimate businesses seeking protection.

Getting started with DDoS protection services
Getting started is incredibly easy. When a customer sends an inquiry to sales@blacklotus.net, Black Lotus DDoS technicians respond promptly to ensure customers get the answers and information they need to keep their websites and servers protected. Visit http://www.blacklotus.net to learn more.

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April 13, 2009

True size of a DDoS attack?

Filed under: Industry Talk — Tags: , , — admin @ 11:24 am

So your provider calls and tells you “You’re receiving a 10 Gbps DDoS attack, we’re going to have to null route your IP until it passes.” Really?! Maybe they told you that you could upgrade to a protection plan to stop this attack. It might cost you $20.00, $1000.00, or maybe even $20,000.

Stop and ask your self: “Is this legitimate?” Every day Black Lotus receives e-mails from customers stating that they’re under a 10 Gbps or 20 Gbps DDoS attack. Once we even had someone swear they had 50 – 100 Gbps attacks. Where are our customers getting this information? If we were gambling men (and women) I would say they’re either making it up or someone else put it into their heads. Perhaps a competitor told them this to beat the heat of having to explain that they’re not a protected provider or that the protection they offer is inadequate.

So what is the true size of a DDoS attack and the cost of protecting against it? Here at Black Lotus only a few hundred dollars will be enough to stop a 1 Gbps or 500,000 packet per second attack (compare to $1500 to $11,000 elsewhere).  This is where a typical sales conversation may spin into, “Only 1 Gbps? I need more, my provider says i’m receiving 10 Gbps.” In the real world attacks of this size cost five to six figures to mitigate and generally cause severe disruptions across the internet that would have the global network engineering communities up in arms and at the ready. People on NANOG would be talking about it.

“Respectfully sir, I don’t believe you are,” we may reply. Why? It has been our experience in the past six years of focusing on DDoS protection that relatively few attacks burst past 1 Gbps. A typical attack against 99% of web sites might top out at 200 – 300 Mbps. Once in a blue moon a customer will make enemies with some seriously dangerous persons resulting in a 1 – 3 Gbps attack. We even had a potential customer just the other day claim one of our competitors was stopping these phantom 10 – 20 Gbps attacks on a routine basis at $250.00 per month. I wish they were, I really do that way I could just buy service from them and resell it instead of investing thousands into our own infrastructure and human capital.

At the end of the day if a provider tries to tell you that you need more than a couple Gbps of protection or that they’re going to sell you 10 – 20 Gbps of protection at something less than four to six figures then we will leave you with this: You’re probably the victim of a scam.

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April 6, 2009

We’re back in Ping! Zine

Filed under: Marketing — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:25 pm

For the first time since 2004 (issues 10 and 11 if you can remember that far back) Black Lotus is once again featured in a full page add in the latest edition of Ping! Zine magazine. This is our first of a new advertising campaign and a 12 issue contract with Ping! Zine. It is also the first of many new and exciting developments at our company.

In the campaign ads begin “When robots attack…” to bring home the fact that by the time a customer determines that they’re in need of DDoS protection or in need of better protection it is often too late and serious damage has been done to the business.

You can see the ad in our archive at http://www.blacklotus.net/pingzine/issue_32.pdf

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February 10, 2009

DDoS protection price gouging

Filed under: Industry Talk — admin @ 1:12 pm

For the better part of five years now there has been a serious epidemic of price gouging in the DDoS protection industry. If you’re a business person you might ask, “Why not?”, those needing to save their business from attackers may be willing to pay just about anything and unfortunately this has proven to be true when you look at the numerous businesses still using and recommending our competition.

There are many DDoS protection outfits in town today but we want to focus on a couple of our most prominent and capable competitors:


Prolexic




Perhaps one of the better known providers in the industry Prolexic’s pricing has long been somewhat of a secret. A quick scan of their DNS servers reveals that much of their business is casino, e-currency, and other high revenue sites. Perhaps a great solution for a company that may have “Unlimited Free Money” (trademark pending) but this does not work for the average Joe.

Verdict: You’re not getting through the door with Prolexic for less than $6500.00 per month with a $8500.00 setup.

Source: Looks like one of their customers left a price proposal laying around:  http://paradigmascension.org/PRO-intro_bro3-July2007.pdf (if this link ends up breaking ask us for a copy by contacting admin@blacklotus.net )


Gigenet




There was a time when Gigenet used to provide very affordable services but those times are over. In recent years they’ve begun charging thousands of dollars for protection that you could easily perform yourself on a dedicated server with a 100 Mbps FE and a little bit of elbow grease.  Infact, their $1299.00 per month product will only afford you 20 Mbps of protection. We’re still not even sure what kind of DDoS attack they think they’re going to protect against at 20 Mbps or why their customers do not realize the extreme level of proverbial highway robbery that’s taking place here.

Verdict: 1 Gbps of protection will cost you a whopping $10,999.00 per month. Last year Derek Raines at Gigenet also gave us a quote for a very similar $10,000.00 per month for the same product when we were shopping for alternate solutions for one of our customers. You’ll see in the WebHostingTalk thread listed below that their management is now trying to backpeddle and say that the prices vary. Okay, but not by much from the looks of it.

Source: They’ve begun advertising this pricing right on their web site at http://www.gigenet.com/hosting-solutions/ddos-protection.html . Guess they grew tired of responding to customers thought they might be able to attain decent pricing.  Here is a member of their staff confirming that the prices are “generalized:” http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showpost.php?p=5549638&postcount=16


Black Lotus DDoS Protection




With our product you’re not going to run into price gouging. We’ve always been “First and Leading” in high value, low cost services. In fact, in January 2009 we revamped our price structure to include a baseline 1 Gbps of protection with our entire BLCC Elite product line.

Verdict: Our Elite services will only set you back a few hundred to get in the door while our Mitigation Critical service level, the highest in the industry, starts at a very cool $2500.00 per month with a fully refundable setup fee! A voluntary contract can bring this down another 25% while other providers may require one!

Source: Check out http://www.blacklotus.net/protection . Contact us at sales@blacklotus.net and let us show you the cost savings!

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