Challenges
The Growing DDoS Challenge for Modern Mobile Operators
Mobile networks are increasingly targeted by DDoS attacks as traffic surges and billions of consumer, IoT, and enterprise devices connect over 4G and 5G. Mobile network operators face both inbound attacks from the internet and outbound attacks originating from compromised mobile subscribers and devices. Risk is amplified by complex mobile architectures, stateful critical components such as SGWs and UPFs, and finite radio spectrum, where malicious traffic directly impacts margins. Limited visibility into correlated user-plane and control-plane activity makes detection and attribution difficult, increasing the risk of service degradation, outages, subscriber churn, and reputational damage.
Addressing these risks requires a purpose-built approach that delivers deep mobile visibility and automated DDoS mitigation across the core and edge.
Outcomes That Matter
Protect Availability and Performance of Mobile Services
Maintain Mobile Service Availability During DDoS Attacks
Detect and mitigate attacks targeting subscribers, mobile infrastructure, and control-plane resources before performance and availability are impacted.
Protect Critical 4G and 5G Network Elements
Identify traffic anomalies that threaten scarce radio spectrum, and other mobile core components to prevent congestion and poor performance.
Reduce Operational Risk and Subscriber Churn
Correlate traffic to subscriber identity and infrastructure context to accelerate response and protect customer experience.
NETSCOUT’s Solution and How It Delivers Value
Purpose-built DDoS protection for 4G and 5G networks
NETSCOUT Mobile Network Protection combines deep packet-level visibility with automated, high-capacity DDoS mitigation to safeguard modern mobile networks — from the core to the edge.
- Mobile-Aware Visibility
NETSCOUT MobileStream sensors passively monitor GTP-u and GTP-c traffic, decoding user-plane and control-plane activity to map traffic flows to network elements, subscriber identity, and device context at scale. This enables operators to see not just the attack — but exactly who and what is impacted. - Intelligent Detection and Mitigation
Arbor Sightline and Threat Mitigation System (TMS) automatically detect and stop inbound DDoS attacks targeting critical mobile interfaces, including UPFs (N6) and SGWs (GI/SGi). Arbor Sightline Mobile classifies anomalous traffic, identifies affected subscribers and infrastructure, and provides full attack traceback for faster, more precise response. - Core and Edge Protection
Virtual Arbor Edge Defense extends protection to MEC environments, defending critical service delivery infrastructure from DDoS and other threats.
The result?
Unified protection against inbound, outbound, and cross-bound DDoS attacks — preserving core stability, protecting scarce radio spectrum, and maintaining mobile service availability.
Related Products
Arbor Threat Mitigation System
Adaptive mitigation protects your customers and ensures service availability and performance
MobileStream
Smart Visibility and Instrumentation for Threat Detection in 4G and 5G Networks.
Arbor Edge Defense
Automated, on-premise, in-line, always-on, stateless, Artificial Intelligence powered DDoS protection.
Resources
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of DDoS attacks target mobile networks?
Mobile networks face volumetric floods, low-rate signaling attacks, and subscriber-driven DDoS activity that can congest user-plane and control-plane resources.
Why are mobile networks harder to protect than wireline networks?
GTP tunneling, dynamic IP addressing, shared infrastructure, and limited radio spectrum increase complexity and amplify attack impact.
How does NETSCOUT detect DDoS attacks in 4G and 5G networks?
NETSCOUT correlates user-plane and control-plane traffic using passive, packet-level data to detect anomalies and attribute them to subscribers and infrastructure.
How does NETSCOUT mitigate mobile DDoS attacks without disrupting services?
Arbor TMS applies stateless, high-capacity mitigation that blocks malicious inbound traffic precisely while allowing legitimate mobile traffic to pass.
