A trivial denial of service attack on IEEE 802.11 direct sequence spread spectrum wireless LANs

Abstract

The paper describes a trivial, but highly effective, denial of service attack based on commonly available IEEE 802.11 hardware and freely available software. The attack requires limited resources and is inexpensive to mount. The paper discusses the attack, its implementation, and provides an analysis of methods to achieve optimal denial of service results. While there is currently no defense against this type of attack, the paper also discusses possibilities for attack mitigation.