Cellphone networks are susceptible to denial of service attacks

Seems that cellular networks are susceptible to the same types of denial of service attacks that have plagued the Internet. A paper published by Penn State says pushing 165 SMS messages per second is sufficient to congest both voice and messaging traffic in all of Manhattan. While cellular companies say they have safeguards in place, researchers contend that "all major cellular networks were vulnerable" and a skilled hacker with a single computer, a list of a several thousand cellphone numbers from a common area, and broadband access could do the deed. Researchers even went so far as to prove (on a small scale) their theories by "very carefully" testing with their own cellphones. Believe them or not, it's only a matter of time until the theory is tested on a massive scale now that the detailed paper has been released online.

[jon @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

a few months ago we were in health class and my friend got a text message asking if she was fat and to turn to some dietary suppliment. i think it's already begun.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

baked beans, tomato and spam!!!!

(sorry, had to be done)

[Bobby Dale @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Hurricane Katrina must have done this to Cingular.

[Mykytiuk @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

You know, I've started to think a lot about cellular security. One thing I was pondering was the fact that most cell providers (in Canada, at least) have a limit to the amount of text messages you can recieve for free (ie. "unlimited" actually means 2500 or so). So, couldn't you text someone thousands of times (via online SMS service) and run up their phone bill? Perhaps online SMS services have some sort of guard against this sort of thing, I don't know, it's just a thought.

[andrew @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

isnt it true that if you use the online service to sms someone that they get charged though?