July 6, 2018

Cybersecurity attacks happen all too often, and attackers are becoming more bold and sophisticated by disrupting critical phone systems and putting 911 emergency call centers at risk. Similar to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on critical online services, Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS) attacks render emergency systems unavailable by saturating them with bogus calls and potentially causing great harm to those who truly require urgent first responder attention.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has partnered with SecureLogix, a San Antonio-based telecommunications security company, to solve complex TDoS issues and develop defense-based solutions to prevent these attacks. TDoS attackers target 9-1-1 emergency call centers and other critical service providers. These attacks are increasing in frequency and everyone is vulnerable. Reasons for TDoS attacks range from extortion to disruptive pranks. These attacks pose significant risks to banks, schools, hospitals, and even government agencies. When banks are attacked, customers are denied access to their accounts. If synchronized with a DDoS attack against a bank’s internet or mobile presence, this may prevent customers from even contacting their bank....