IP Library Granted Patent US 11,546,175
Granted Patent B2
US 11,546,175 · App. 17/181,917 · Granted Jan 3, 2023

Detecting and isolating an attack directed at an IP address associated with a digital certificate bound with multiple domains

Inventors: Matthew Browning Prince (San Francisco, CA); Srikanth N. Rao (San Francisco, CA); Lee Hahn Holloway (Santa Cruz, CA); Ian Gerald Pye (Santa Cruz, CA)
Assignee: CLOUDFLARE, INC.
H04L9/3268H04L63/0823H04L63/0884H04L63/1441H04L67/56H04L63/0464H04L63/166H04W76/10
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,546,175
App. No.
17/181,917
Granted
Jan 3, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

An attack is detected on a first IP address and a determination is made that the first IP address is associated with a primary digital certificate that is bound with multiple different domains. For each of these domains, a secondary certificate is accessed that is bound only to that domain and that secondary certificate is associated with a unique IP address such that each of the different domains has a unique IP address associated with its secondary certificate respectively. The attack is isolated to the domain the attack follows.

Claims (50)

1. A method, comprising:

detecting an attack on a first IP address;

determining that the first IP address is associated with a primary digital certificate that is bound with a plurality of different domains;

for each of the plurality of different domains,

accessing a secondary certificate that is bound only to that domain, and

associating that secondary certificate with a unique IP address such that each of the plurality of different domains has a unique IP address associated with its secondary certificate respectively; and

isolating the attack to one of the plurality of different domains the attack follows.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

taking corrective action for the isolated attack including throttling traffic directed to that IP address.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

taking corrective action for the isolated attack including routing traffic directed to that IP address to dedicated hardware to mitigate the attack.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

taking corrective action for the isolated attack including dropping traffic directed to that IP address.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the attack on the first IP address includes determining that a denial of service attack is directed to the first IP address.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting a domain name system (DNS) update to a DNS system to announce the unique IP addresses that resolve to the domains bound in the secondary certificates.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, when executed by a processor, causes said processor to perform operations comprising:

detecting an attack on a first IP address;

determining that the first IP address is associated with a primary digital certificate that is bound with a plurality of different domains;

for each of the plurality of different domains,

accessing a secondary certificate that is bound only to that domain, and

associating that secondary certificate with a unique IP address such that each of the plurality of different domains has a unique IP address associated with its secondary certificate respectively; and

isolating the attack to one of the plurality of different domains the attack follows.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:

taking corrective action for the isolated attack including throttling traffic directed to that IP address.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:

taking corrective action for the isolated attack including routing traffic directed to that IP address to dedicated hardware to mitigate the attack.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:

taking corrective action for the isolated attack including dropping traffic directed to that IP address.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein detecting the attack on the first IP address includes determining that a denial of service attack is directed to the first IP address.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting a domain name system (DNS) update to a DNS system to announce the unique IP addresses that resolve to the domains bound in the secondary certificates.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a set of one or more processors; and

a set of one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums storing instructions, that when executed by the set of processors, cause the apparatus to perform the following operations:

detecting an attack on a first IP address;

determining that the first IP address is associated with a primary digital certificate that is bound with a plurality of different domains;

for each of the plurality of different domains,

accessing a secondary certificate that is bound only to that domain, and

associating that secondary certificate with a unique IP address such that each of the plurality of different domains has a unique IP address associated with its secondary certificate respectively; and

isolating the attack to one of the plurality of different domains the attack follows.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:

taking corrective action for the isolated attack including throttling traffic directed to that IP address.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:

taking corrective action for the isolated attack including routing traffic directed to that IP address to dedicated hardware to mitigate the attack.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:

taking corrective action for the isolated attack including dropping traffic directed to that IP address.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein detecting the attack on the first IP address includes determining that a denial of service attack is directed to the first IP address.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting a domain name system (DNS) update to a DNS system to announce the unique IP addresses that resolve to the domains bound in the secondary certificates.

Assignments (2)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 20, 2024
From: CLOUDFLARE, INC.
To: CITIBANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 067472/0246 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 22, 2021
From: PRINCE, MATTHEW BROWNING; HOLLOWAY, LEE HAHN; RAO, SRIKANTH N.; PYE, IAN GERALD
To: CLOUDFLARE, INC.
Reel/Frame 055358/0515 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 16356304 · Mar 18, 2019
Continuation 14692397 · Apr 21, 2015
Continuation 13193574 · Jul 28, 2011
Related Publication 20210176079A1 · Jun 10, 2021