Meet cGrid, the real-time P2P punisher

There's a tool in the war on piracy that's picking up steam, and its proponents are thrilled with what it can do. Dubbed "cGrid," the application is powerful and daunting to those caught in its snares, for it can boot users off the network in real-time if it suspects that they are engaging in P2P file sharing, or even if they are using so-called darknets. As you might expect, the entertainment industry loves it.

cGrid's developer Red Lambda hopes that the current imbroglio between the RIAA and America's colleges will turn into a business opportunity.

cGrid's developers describe it as "the industry's most advanced P2P and file-sharing mitigation technology." It uses undisclosed techniques to monitor and record traffic at the packet-level and also uses proprietary behavioral analysis to determine whether individual users are participating in illegal file sharing. It monitors local networks and keeps historical logs on users according to their MAC addresses. In this way, cGrid can also monitor private file sharing such as that done with invitation-only FTP servers and other normally closed "networks."

The software provides detailed usage reports to administrators which can then be used to discipline students who have had multiple infractions. However, one of the most distinct features of the software is its ability to instantly kick users off of the network for engaging in suspicious behavior.

Red Lambda says that cGrid monitors "a large variety of different P2P clients, in addition to other avenues of file-sharing including Windows file sharing, FTP, IM, and others," and that cGrid does not perform content inspection but instead focuses on the behavior of the protocols being monitored. But the company does not expand on how it differentiates between legitimate uses of those technologies and illegal ones, raising questions of its effectiveness in an academic setting where students may be using P2P and other services potentially flagged by the system for legitimate, academic reasons.

cGrid is lauded by the RIAA and MPAA because of its ability to automatically determine usage patterns and remove offenders' Internet access on the spot, without the lag of involving bureaucracy. The University of Florida, where the cGrid was first developed under the name "Icarus," itself reports that it has been monitoring its dorm networks since 2003 with some success.

While students have been finding ways around the service (as discussed, perhaps not too wisely, on Facebook), UF's interim CIO Marc Hoit told Gainesville.com that the university has seen a dramatic reduction in downloading. Instantly kicking students off the network for suspected infractions seems to work, too: "The first and second warnings are sufficient" in scaring students straight about piracy, Hoit said.