A10 Networks hires Terrence Gareau

A10 Networks has hired Terrence Gareau as Principal Research Scientist. In this new role, Gareau will build a security engineering and response team, providing A10 ADC (application delivery controller), CGN (carrier grade networking) and standalone DDoS (distributed denial of service) customers with in-depth DDoS research and advisories. Additional intelligence gathering and threat advisories will further assist customers in protecting their networks from the rising incidence, volume and sophistication of crippling DDoS attacks. Prior to joining A10 Networks, Gareau founded and led PLXsert, a well-respected DDoS service from Prolexic (recently acquired by Akamai).

DDoS attacks cause disruption in a company’s business operations, resulting in lost revenue and brand damage. They are executed by scores of “zombied” machines all launching legitimate-looking traffic toward a website or application at the same time, effectively overwhelming system resources, leaving them inoperable and vulnerable to additional security threats.

DDoS attacks have recently been grabbing headlines, with some reports claiming a tripling of the number attacks since the beginning of 2013, and a host of increasingly volumetric attacks this year. DDoS attacks are also becoming easier to launch by novice users, with many tools that can be downloaded and launched even from mobile platforms. Criminal syndicates provide inexpensive online DDoS attack services that enable companies to illegally undermine their competitors’ service quality, for instance those widely reported in industries like online gaming and gambling. Recently, there have been reports of Blizzard’s gaming services (Diablo, World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Hearthstone) being impacted by DDoS, and the online project management service Basecamp was the victim of extortion by means of a DDoS attack in March. The data appear to suggest that DDoS attacks are getting larger and easier to launch by anyone, towards anyone with an online presence, leading A10 to expand its offerings to improve defense and mitigation for customers.

“We are extremely fortunate to have someone of Terrence’s caliber and status join the A10 team,” said Raj Jalan, A10 chief technology officer. “As DDoS rapidly rises as a top security threat to our global customers, it is increasingly necessary for us to monitor threats and provide mitigation alerts and strategies to our customers. Under Terrence’s leadership, we will continue strengthening our security intelligence and mitigation capabilities, helping our customers avoid these costly and damaging attacks.”