DDoS attacks have been around for a while now and they are becoming increasingly common when operating an online business. Cryptocurrency exchanges like Bitfinex and Kraken are a prime example of this, both of them having been DDoS’d recently, in 2017. Last year, DDoS attacks cost companies around $150 billion and, according to securelist.com, DDoS attacks are changing “from something of a novelty into an everyday occurrence”, thanks to the use of botnets.

Current DDoS protection services have multiple problems such as the outdated subscription model, slow speeds, and even lack of safety with Cloudflare itself being DDoS’d and shut down for a few hours this summer. Although hackers that perform these attacks through botnets have found a way to use distributed resources in a somewhat efficient manner, regular internet users are yet to do so.

The DDoS problem is very real, and it actually very common in the case of upcoming ICOs. As a matter of a fact, several ICOs were DDoS and had to delay their public sale, not to mention the huge reputation and economic damages they suffered hours prior to launching. This is possible because current centralized solution are extremely expensive and easy to take down and exploit.

This is where Gladius comes in.

What is Gladius and how does it work?

The Gladius Network is a decentralized platform created to protect against DDoS attacks and to accelerate websites through a CDN. To do so, Gladius will leverage a global network of participants who will rent/use their idle bandwidth to help safeguard and accelerate websites by providing DDoS protection and participating in a global Content Delivery Network (CDN).

So, how does it work? The Gladius platform will allow anyone with a computer and internet connection to install a simple piece of software and start renting out spare and underutilized bandwidth. The users who share their bandwidth resources (nodes) will then be able to handle a “a continuous stream of requests to validate website connections” and block malicious activity as a group. Gladius co-founder, Max Niebylski stated:

“Gladius kills two birds with one stone utilizing unused resources to build a robust network to make websites load faster and yet still stay strong under network flooding attacks Typically, more people means less security and certainty. However, Gladius completely flips that paradigm by using numbers to our advantage. Using the blockchain to create a network of trust enables us to spread sensitive and vital information across the globe while remaining fully encrypted.”

In the Gladius’ system, blockchain technology is used as an incentive layer, allowing users to earn Gladius Tokens (GLA) for every website request they validate. The rewards that are allocated to nodes are financed by websites looking for protection. Webmasters will to request services on the Gladius website, paying with the GLA token (Which can also be acquired on the Gladius website).

Gladius will also allow webmasters to buy Content Delivery Network (CDN) services. These services are also provided by the nodes that make up the Gladius Network, allowing them to receive a GLA reward for their services. The decentralized nature of the Gladius Network allows for much faster times, given that clients are connected to a node that nearby, rather than connecting to a far away datacenter.

As so, Gladius is able to make websites much more efficient, allowing them to save thousands on DDoS protection subscriptions that are hardly used and to deliver content faster. All of this, while opening up a revenue stream for owners of idle/spare bandwidth who help “protect and accelerate websites across the globe”.

Read the whitepaper here.

The Gladius token & ICO

The Gladius token (GLA) is an ERC20 token based on the Ethereum blockchain. It is key component to the Gladius Network, given that it is the only currency used to buy DDoS protection and CDN services from the Gladius Network nodes. While most of the reward is allocated to the node, a small share is used for to protocol development and support.

In order to fund the development and marketing of the network, as well as to distribute the GLA token efficiently, an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) will be hosted. The Gladius presale is happening now and the public ICO will start on the 1st of November and will last until the 30th of November, 2017. The ICO token allocation represents 60% of the total token supply and will be available for 0.002 ETH each. The ICO funding cap is 83333 ETH. - See ICO details here.