Understanding DDoS Attacks From Mobile Devices

The recent proliferation of smartphones and tablets leads to consider such devices as means for the execution of cyber-attacks. This scenario has rarely been considered earlier, since mobile devices always represented a target for cyber-criminals, rather than a vector to exploit. In this paper we introduce an innovative mobile botnet infrastructure, composed by mobile agents, for the execution of denial of service attacks. We prove that the chance of involving mobile bots is possible, comparing the proposed infrastructure to Low-Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC), a well-known system in this context. Results show that in virtue of reduced resource consumption the proposed system is particularly addicted to the mobile environment. The idea of a mobile botnet is unexplored until now, therefore, the proposed system represents an important step in the mobile and cyber-security field.