Survey of countering DoS/DDoS attacks on SIP based VoIP networks

Abstract

Voice over IP (VoIP) services hold promise because of their offered features and low cost. Most VoIP networks depend on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to handle signaling functions. The SIP is a text-based protocol that is vulnerable to many attacks. Denial of Service (DoS) and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are the most harmful types of attacks, because they drain VoIP resources and render SIP service unavailable to legitimate users. In this paper, we present recently introduced approaches to detect DoS and DDoS attacks, and classify them based on various factors. We then analyze these approaches according to various characteristics; furthermore, we investigate the main strengths and weaknesses of these approaches. Finally, we provide some remarks for enhancing the surveyed approaches and highlight directions for future research to build effective detection solutions.