System and Method for Avoiding and Mitigating a DDoS Attack

1 .- 23 . (canceled)

24 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions executable by a processor, the set of instructions performing a method comprising:

selecting Internet Protocol (“IP”) prefixes for a community from a list of IP prefixes, the list being ranked by a most recent attack related to each of the IP prefixes on the list;

storing a per-customer table for the community based on a destination address;

receiving a data packet including the destination address and a source address;

categorizing the data packet into the community based on the source address; and

selecting a treatment for the data packet based on the community.

25 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the treatment includes restricting further transmission of the data packet.

26 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the treatment includes limiting the rate of the transmission of the data packet.

27 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the treatment includes prioritizing the transmission of the data packet.

28 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the treatment includes transmitting the data packet to a customer router corresponding to the destination address.

29 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the per-customer table includes a plurality of communities.

30 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the selecting includes performing a longest prefix match on the destination address.

31 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the categorizing includes performing a longest prefix match on the source address.

32 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the source and destination addresses are IP addresses.

33 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the method further comprises:

comparing the destination address of the data packet to a customer address;

retrieving the per-customer table based on the customer address;

comparing the source IP address to the per-customer table to categorize the packet.

34 . A router, comprising:

a memory storing a set of computer readable instructions, a routing table that includes a correspondence between a plurality of communities and source addresses, and a plurality of per-customer tables having each community predefined by a user corresponding to destination addresses, the predefining of each community comprises selecting Internet Protocol (“IP”) prefixes for each community from a list of IP prefixes, the list being ranked by a most recent attack related to each of the IP prefixes on the list; and

a processor executing the set of computer readable instructions to perform a method comprising,

categorizing each of a plurality of received data packet into one of the plurality of communities based on the source address of each data packet and the routing table,

selecting a treatment for each data packet based on the destination address of each data packet and a selected per-customer table.

35 . The router of claim 34 , wherein the processor compares the destination address of each data packet to a customer address and retrieves the selected per-customer table based on the customer address.

36 . The router of claim 35 , wherein the processor compares the destination address based on a longest prefix match on the destination address.

37 . The router of claim 34 , wherein the processor categorizes each data packet by comparing the source address based on a longest prefix match on the source address.

38 . The router of claim 34 , wherein the treatment includes restricting further transmission of the data packet.

39 . The router of claim 34 , wherein the treatment includes limiting the rate of the transmission of the data packet.

40 . The router of claim 34 , wherein the treatment includes prioritizing the transmission of the data packet.

41 . The router of claim 34 , wherein the treatment includes transmitting the data packet to a customer router corresponding to the destination address.

42 . The router of claim 34 , wherein the per-customer table includes a plurality of communities.

43 . A method, comprising:

receiving, from a service provider, a list of IP prefixes, the list being ranked by a most recent attack related to each of the IP prefixes;

selecting one or more IP prefixes from the list;

generating a per-customer table using the selected one or more IP prefixes, wherein the per-customer table includes a community corresponding to each of the one or more IP prefixes; and

sending the per-customer table to the service provider.