In a recent report from the firm, analysts predicted pornography and gambling services would offer the largest potential revenue streams for the mobile Internet. As such, according to the firm, the same attacks that plague current content providers in these two realms also will seriously impact the mobile arena.
“These sites are often targets for ‘Denial of Service’ (DoS) extortion attacks such as, ‘Transfer $5,000 into this Swiss bank account and we will stop bombarding your site,’” the report said.
Because so many porn sites often are run with limited resources and staff, Gartner analysts recommend providers undertake major preparations against hacker attacks
“We recommend [they] prepare for DoS attacks, like SMS storms, against these kind of sites,” the report said.
Traditional DoS attacks overload a web server by sending “fake” traffic to a site until it shuts down. SMS storms are based on a similar principle, wherein mobile phone networks are hit with auto-generated text messages.
The report cites a case last year when gambling service Betfair was hit with a major string of DoS attacks, which criminals refused to halt until a ransom was paid. Several other online betting companies were hit with similar ransom demands.
But malicious attacks aren’t the only thing adult content providers have to worry about, according to the report, which stressed providers also will have to take major steps to ensure their content does not fall easily into the hands of minors.
“Providing gambling and pornographic content for mobile phones is a sensitive issue. Even though such services provide the potential for lucrative revenue streams, potential providers need to understand the laws and regulations governing such services,” the report said.
