New DOS Attacks Threaten Wireless Data Networks

Via NetworkWorld -

Forget spam, viruses, worms, malware and phishing. These threats are apparently old school when compared to a new class of denial-of-service (DOS) attacks that threaten wireless data networks.

The latest wireless network threats were outlined in a talk here Thursday by Krishan Sabnani, vice president of networking research at Bell Labs, at the Cyber Infrastructure Protection Conference at City College of New York.

Sabnani said the latest wireless data network threats are the result of inherent weaknesses in Mobile IP, a protocol that uses tunneling and complex network triangulation to allow mobile devices to move freely from one network to another.

"We need to especially monitor the mobile networks – with limited bandwidth and terminal battery—for DOS attacks," Sabnani said.

Sabnani said the newest DOS attacks on wireless networks involve repeatedly establishing and releasing connections. These attacks are easy to launch and hard to detect, he added.

"One cable modem user with 500Kbps upload capacity can attack over 1 million mobile users simultaneously," he said.

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Hat-tip to my friend, Fergie...