"DDoS Attacks Could Affect Next Generation 911 Call Systems"

In a new study, researchers from BGU Cyber Security Research Center evaluated the impact of DDoS attacks on the current (E911) and next generation 911 (NG911) infrastructures in North Carolina. NG911 is said to improve reliability, and it expands 911 service capabilities, enabling the public to call over VoIP, transmit text, images, video, and data to PSAPs. The capabilities of this new 911 infrastructure makes it seem a lot better than the E911 infrastructure. However, the study found that only 6,000 bots were needed to compromise the availability of a state's 911 services significantly, and they found that only 200,000 bots can jeopardize the entire United States 911 system. Using 6,000 infected phones, the researchers were able to effectively block 911 calls from 20 percent of the state's landline callers, and 50 percent of the mobile customers. The old version of E911 was not affected as severely when researchers tried to launch a DDoS attack against it. 

Help Net Security reports: "DDoS Attacks Could Affect Next Generation 911 Call Systems"