IxLoad-Attack Validates Mobile Internet Security End-to-End

Mobile network cyber-attacks are on the rise and will continue to grow significantly over the next few years. Driven primarily by the proliferation of smart devices, these attacks are increasingly launched from social network services. Amongst them, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are one of the fastest growing threats in mobile networks. Consequently, mobile operators with weak security strategies risk degraded service quality, network downtime, as well as put customers at risk.

To address this mobile security issue, converged IP and wireless network test solutions provider Ixia has released a ground-breaking product that measures the resiliency and performance of wireless network security. Called IxLoad-Attack, it is the industry’s first wireless security application that validates mobile Internet security end-to-end – from the handset to the data center.

By generating massive, city-scale application and attack traffic over LTE infrastructures, IxLoad-Attack allows service providers to find previously impossible-to-detect infrastructure vulnerabilities and weaknesses before they can be exploited on live networks, said the developer.

According to Ixia, the IxLoad-Attack evaluates the performance of network security devices, validating that they effectively and accurately block security attacks while delivering a high end-user quality of experience (QoE) to valid subscriber applications. In addition, it also evaluates standalone or embedded security perimeter devices such as firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), anti-virus/anti-spam, URL filters, and VPN gateways. And can generate a massive amount of city-scale, converged, real-world voice/video/data traffic combined with malicious elements designed to compromise the network.

Ixia said that with IxLoad-Attack, a mobile network or device can be evaluated against thousands of unique attacks and evasion techniques to find previously hidden infrastructure vulnerabilities before they are exploited – protecting customer data, financial holdings, and brand reputation. Simultaneously, added Ixia, an accurate measurement of legitimate application service quality, such as voice quality, can be made to verify that security mechanisms do not impede overall network performance.

“The diversity and frequency of security attacks on mobile networks will expand significantly with the growth and popularity of smart devices and the mobile internet,” Aria Eslambolchizadeh, senior director of QA/Test at SonicWALL, said. “Ixia’s IxLoad-Attack product plays a critical industry role in validating the performance and resiliency of security appliances that protect mobile networks.”

Ixia said that IxLoad-Attack’s capabilities will be demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, next week.