Magnus Cloud
Proactive Countermeasure against Cyber Attacks

Who could have thought that when Russ Manning created a science fiction character in 1962 named “Magnus: The Robot Fighter 4000 AD,” there would actually be a time when humankind would have to fight them. Sophisticated robot-based attacks at Layer 7 application also known as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are increasing rapidly. Today, the major challenge in application-layer DDoS deterrence is the ability of a bot to take on many forms while attacking networks, and the inability of standard defenses to remove these assaults. Nashville, TN-based Magnus Cloud addresses these problems by focusing on a device’s behavior in real time and applying behavioral protocol that removes bots, even the most sophisticated bots, by consuming their CPUs. “Attackers continue to marshal and train their bot armies, launching more sophisticated attacks against websites and services every day. Magnus ensures organizations win the battles and the war,” says Kurt Gutzmann, CTO, Magnus Cloud.

Magnus offers cloud-based services that prevent bots from damaging a firm’s website or mission-critical applications. According to Gutzmann, the unique aspect of Magnus’s solution is that they do not use ‘signature deduction’ or after-the-fact signature-based request filtering techniques. “The typical modus operandi requires customers to provide their SSL decryption keys and certificates to the vendor for analyzing the customer's traffic, posing a major compliance problem for many businesses such as internet banks,” explains Gutzmann. Magnus' counter measure is able to neutralize bot attacks, prevents infiltration, and consumes attackers.

Magnus protects content at the site or sub-site level, and/or specific transactions such as account logon, purchases, money transfers, and stock trades. The operation of our solution is completely undetectable by a human using a browser, which eliminates the need for irritating measures like captchas. Through the addition of a Magnus-provided client-side script to the site or forms, visitors are engaged in the protocol before gaining access to a firm’s content or transactions.

“Most bots do not execute Javascript and will fail to engage properly; they are immediately denied access. Occasionally a Javascript-capable bot will turn up, but they reveal themselves through their behavior and are incapacitated by our protocol,” adds Gutzmann.

The Magnus DDoS defense solution includes device finger printing independent of IP address— standard DDoS bots are blocked with 100 percent accuracy, while advanced bots are consumed via a cryptographically strong proof-of-work algorithm (MagnaCoin). The company also provides real-time alerts on bot activity, security event forwarding, and threat analytics dashboard displays of bot types, geography, ISP origin, hit rate, targets, and more. “We have successfully and reliably tested our solutions with our own large-scale botnet simulator, which produces hit rates equivalent to 20,000 large server-class machines running in data center environments,” elucidates Gutzmann. “Magnus represents a significant innovation in cybersecurity defenses, providing an application-layer attack proactive countermeasure.”

The operation of our solution is completely undetectable by a human using a browser, so irritating measures like captchas are not needed

In addition to DDoS, the Magnus solution contains a suite of products that can be used individually or all employed together to protect entire websites, specific website transactions, mobile applications, and even embedded devices. One of the company’s current clients operates an extensive device-management service (IoT) that involves environmental compliance. “It is critical that customers have the ability to monitor and manage these devices continuously and that they are protected from any unauthorized access,” asserts Gutzmann. “Magnus ensures the availability and integrity of their service.”

Surging ahead, Magnus will continue to offer distinct preemptive countermeasure solutions that eliminate any cyberattack or network threat. Magnus will evolve in the technology that will help clients know what assets the bots might attack and where the bots are from. “Our solutions will persist on representing substantial advancement in cybersecurity defenses, providing an application-layer attack countermeasure while working with traditional network-layer solutions,” concludes Gutzmann.