A first look on the effects and mitigation of VoIP SPIT flooding in 4G mobile networks

Abstract

The fourth generation of mobile networks is considered a technology-opportunistic and user-centric system. Part of its new architecture, 4G networks will implement an evolved packet core. Although this will provide various critical advantages, it will however expose telecom networks to serious IP-based attacks. One often adopted solution to mitigate such attacks is based on a centralized security architecture. This centralized approach nonetheless, requires large processing resources to handle large amount of traffic, which may result in a significant over dimensioning problem in the centralized nodes causing this approach to fail from achieving its security task. In this paper, we primarily contribute by presenting a first look on the DoS effects of VoIP SPIT flooding on 4G mobile networks. We further contribute by proposing a distributed architecture on the mobile network infrastructure that is secure, efficient and cost-effective.