Level 3's Black Lotus Buy Boosts Security Lineup

**Editor’s Note: Please click here for a recap of the biggest channel-impacting mergers in Q1 2015.**

Channel stalwart Level 3 Communications on Wednesday announced its acquisition of San Francisco-based Black Lotus, which sells distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation services. Level 3 says the move will add new capabilities to its existing DDoS service, which debuted earlier this year.

The Level 3 DDoS Mitigation service includes network-based detection and mitigation scrubbing alongside network routing, rate limiting and IP filtering abilities. The Black Lotus buy adds proxy-based DDoS mitigation services, providing additional capabilities for application layer attacks, along with advanced behavioral analytics technology. The application layer is a prime target for DDoS attacks that often impact Web servers and Web hosting providers, Level 3 noted.

“Black Lotus’ proxy and behavioral technologies, combined with their experienced team of DDoS experts, perfectly complements Level 3’s DDoS mitigation and threat intelligence capabilities,” said Chris Richter, senior vice president of managed security services at Level 3. “With this acquisition, Level 3 continues its commitment of investing in a comprehensive portfolio of services that enhance the growth, efficiency and security of our customers’ operations, helping enterprises combat the cybersecurity challenges they face every day.”

The network service provider last month broke down the increasing threat of cyberattacks in a report dubbed “Safeguarding the Internet: Level 3 Botnet Research Report June 2015.”

“Level 3 believes it is critical that network service providers be proactive with their threat intelligence to remove threats, where practical, from the Internet,” the reports authors wrote. “The team also believes organizations that arm themselves with available threat intelligence, including data from industry alliances and information-sharing organizations, are better able to defend against cyberattacks. Sharing threat data, and taking action with that intelligence, represents the new line of defense against threats to our information ecosystem and the enterprises they support.”

The DDoS opportunity for partners is clear. TechNavio analysts last year predicted the market will grow at a CAGR of nearly 20 percent through 2018.

Level 3 paid for Black Lotus in cash, but the amount was not disclosed, as Black Lotus is privately held.

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