Duke University's WLAN suffers a Denial of Service attack ... (NOT) from the iPhone!

NatCh · 07-18-2007, 12:23 PM

In an extremely ironic twist of fate, the wireless network at Duke University has been overwhelmed and crashed by an invasion of Apple iPhones.

Apparently, the iPhones are making massive numbers of MAC address requests (18,000 IP addresses per second or about 10Mbps in bandwidth), and the system can't cope, with as many as 30 nodes at a time reporting themselves “out of service” for 10~15 minutes per incident. During which time, the nodes are completely unresponsive to anything the network techs can do. They're guessing that it may be an issue with the way the iPhones request the MAC addresses -- if they don't get an answer, they just ask again, and again, and ....

They're not too concerned just yet, as they're between semesters, so they've got a bit of time to resolve the problem, and are working with Cisco and Apple to that end. But if it's not resolved by the time the fall semester starts ... they seem to feel that would qualify as a "Bad Thing."

Source article available here.

Cthulhu · 07-18-2007, 01:32 PM

Wow.

It is amazing how many people's parents can afford to purchase $600 phones for them.

Wonder if this will become a chronic problem on other campuses, like the bandwidth being hijacked by students stealing copyrighted material from the interweb a few years back.

Of course, all those kids with fancy new gadgets is what keeps technology moving forward, right? ;-

NatCh · 07-18-2007, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

It is amazing how many people's parents can afford to purchase $600 phones for them.

And this is just the summer semester. I'm less surprised by it at Duke (It is a private university, right? Or do I just think that?) than I would be at a less upscale (read: expensive) state university, but I expect there will be enough of this problem to go around come September 1st.

texag · 07-21-2007, 12:20 AM

It should be noted that Duke has retracted it's comment that the iphone caused the outage.

NatCh · 07-21-2007, 12:23 AM

That's very interesting, indeed, texag -- do you have a reference for that? I'd like to see what they said, exactly.

texag · 07-21-2007, 01:24 PM

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan.../D8QGL9S81.htm

hokie · 07-21-2007, 01:26 PM

From Duke's news website:

http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/07/cisco_apple.html

NatCh · 07-21-2007, 11:42 PM

Cool. That's a good thing, then. With the number of iPhones headed out into the wild, it could have been bad if it had been them.

pitcher23 · 07-23-2007, 08:13 AM

In related news, Mike Nifong still thinks the iPhone was guilty. ;P

07-18-2007, 12:23 PM	#1
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Duke University's WLAN suffers a Denial of Service attack ... (NOT) from the iPhone! In an extremely ironic twist of fate, the wireless network at Duke University has been overwhelmed and crashed by an invasion of Apple iPhones. Apparently, the iPhones are making massive numbers of MAC address requests (18,000 IP addresses per second or about 10Mbps in bandwidth), and the system can't cope, with as many as 30 nodes at a time reporting themselves “out of service” for 10~15 minutes per incident. During which time, the nodes are completely unresponsive to anything the network techs can do. They're guessing that it may be an issue with the way the iPhones request the MAC addresses -- if they don't get an answer, they just ask again, and again, and .... They're not too concerned just yet, as they're between semesters, so they've got a bit of time to resolve the problem, and are working with Cisco and Apple to that end. But if it's not resolved by the time the fall semester starts ... they seem to feel that would qualify as a "Bad Thing." Source article available here.

07-21-2007, 01:26 PM	#7
hokie Member Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2007 Device: Sony eReader (PRS-500)	The problem was apparently the Cisco routers--not the iPhone From Duke's news website: http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/07/cisco_apple.html

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07-18-2007, 01:32 PM	#2
Cthulhu Technologist Posts: 488 Karma: 585237 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: I'm between Cities Device: SONY Reader PRS-500	Wow. It is amazing how many people's parents can afford to purchase $600 phones for them. Wonder if this will become a chronic problem on other campuses, like the bandwidth being hijacked by students stealing copyrighted material from the interweb a few years back. Of course, all those kids with fancy new gadgets is what keeps technology moving forward, right? ;-

07-21-2007, 12:20 AM	#4
texag Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2007	It should be noted that Duke has retracted it's comment that the iphone caused the outage.

07-21-2007, 12:23 AM	#5
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	That's very interesting, indeed, texag -- do you have a reference for that? I'd like to see what they said, exactly.

07-21-2007, 01:24 PM	#6
texag Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2007	http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan.../D8QGL9S81.htm

07-21-2007, 11:42 PM	#8
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Cool. That's a good thing, then. With the number of iPhones headed out into the wild, it could have been bad if it had been them.

07-23-2007, 08:13 AM	#9
pitcher23 Zealot Posts: 138 Karma: 12 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: New York USA	In related news, Mike Nifong still thinks the iPhone was guilty. ;P

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