NEW YORK -- Mobile Network Security Strategies: New Threats, New Opportunities -- Security panelists are expecting that an attack orchestrated by an Internet activist group via social media will soon take down a mobile operator's 4G network, if it hasn't happened already.

Dan Holden, director of the ASERT group at Arbor Networks Inc., suggests that a "hacktivist" group like Anonymous could turn an operator's network against itself by assembling a large enough group of users with Long Term Evolution (LTE) devices via social media to trigger a distributed denial-of-service attack that is botnet driven.

"If you're a mobile provider and you say one thing that ticks off a group like Anonymous then they could go after you with your own bandwidth," suggests Holden.

This is because the far speedier uploads available over LTE smartphones and tablets would make it much easier to flood the limited spectrum available to 4G wireless networks.

Readers may remember that back in December 2009 there was an attempt to take down AT&T Inc.'s network with "Operation Chokehold" because of dissatisfaction over 3G service on the iPhone, though it fell rather flat. (See AT&T: Don't Choke Us and Operation Jokehold.)

Stephen Newman, VP of product and strategy at Damballa Inc., suggests that the power of social media three years on could allow hacktivists to assemble much larger groups to participate in an attack with their handsets.

"They opt in," he says. "They don't really realize what they're doing."

So, it may be a case of not if but when for mobile operators preparing for these kinds of attacks. "I think it's quite possible and likely already happened and we'll see it become more commonplace over time," says Arbor's Holden. (See AT&T: Security Needs to Out-Innovate Hackers.)

For more
Further coverage from Light Reading's Mobile Network Security Strategies event:

• AT&T: Security Needs to Out-Innovate Hackers
• Wireless Networks Have Growing Hacker Appeal

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile