Server with mechanism for changing treatment of client connections determined to be related to attacks

A method executed by a server interacting with a client over one or more computer communications networks, the method comprising:

• establishing a connection with a client over one or more computer communications networks;
• receiving at least one message over the connection from the client;
• during the time the connection is open, determining that any of the client and the connection exhibits one or more attack characteristics;
• as a result of the determination, the server changing its treatment of the connection such that the server thereafter:
• (i) sends at least one transport-layer message to the client over the connection to keep the connection open, and
• (ii) does not send a response to application-layer messages received from the client.

A server, comprising:

• circuitry forming one or more processors that execute computer-readable instructions;
• memory holding computer-readable instructions for execution by the one or more processors;
• the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, causing the server to:
• establish a connection with a client over one or more computer communications networks;
• receive at least one message over the connection from the client;
• during the time the connection is open, determine that any of the client and the connection exhibits one or more attack characteristics;
• as a result of the determination, the server changing its treatment of the connection such that the server thereafter:
• (i) sends at least one transport-layer message to the client over the connection to keep the connection open, and
• (ii) does not send a response to application-layer messages received from the client.