Packet traceback

Patent Granted IP traceback is a name given to any method for reliably determining the origin of a packet on the Internet. Due to the trusting nature of the IP protocol, the source IP address of a packet is not authenticated. As a result, the source address in an IP packet can be falsified (IP address spoofing) allowing for denial-of-service attacks (DoS) or one-way attacks (where the response from the victim host is so well known that return packets need not be received to continue the attack[clarification needed]). The problem of finding the source of a packet is called the IP traceback problem. IP traceback is a critical ability for identifying sources of attacks and instituting protection measures for the Internet. Most existing approaches to this problem have been tailored toward DoS attack detection. Such solutions require high numbers of packets to converge on the attack path(s).