| name | performing-bandwidth-throttling-attack-simulation |
| description | Simulates bandwidth throttling and network degradation attacks using tc, iperf3, and Scapy in authorized environments to test quality-of-service controls, application resilience, and network monitoring detection of traffic manipulation attacks.
|
| domain | cybersecurity |
| subdomain | network-security |
| tags | ["network-security","bandwidth-throttling","qos","traffic-shaping","network-resilience"] |
| version | 1.0 |
| author | mahipal |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
| nist_csf | ["PR.IR-01","DE.CM-01","ID.AM-03","PR.DS-02"] |
| mitre_attack | ["T1046","T1040","T1557","T1071"] |
| source | https://github.com/mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills |
| source_commit | 04450304b12645cb2b974ab96d28c0664758a88d |
| note | Vendored verbatim from an external Apache-2.0 security-skill library, pinned by commit. Exceeds the internal 300-line skill guideline (agent-code-constraints.md) -- kept as-is because this is vendored reference material (forensics/threat-intel procedure), not Yana AI-authored content, and trimming would damage technical accuracy. |
Performing Bandwidth Throttling Attack Simulation
When to Use
- Testing application resilience to degraded network conditions during authorized security assessments
- Validating QoS policies detect and mitigate unauthorized traffic shaping on the network
- Simulating network slowloris-style attacks that degrade bandwidth rather than causing complete outages
- Assessing the impact of bandwidth-based attacks on VoIP, video conferencing, and real-time applications
- Testing network monitoring tools' ability to detect abnormal bandwidth utilization patterns
Do not use on production networks without authorization and a maintenance window, for causing denial-of-service conditions, or against critical infrastructure without safety controls.
Prerequisites
- Written authorization for bandwidth manipulation testing
- Linux system with tc (traffic control), netem, and iptables
- iperf3 installed on both tester and target systems for bandwidth measurement
- MITM position established (ARP spoofing) for traffic interception scenarios
- Network monitoring tools deployed for detecting the simulation
- Baseline bandwidth measurements before testing
Legal Notice: This skill is for authorized security testing and educational purposes only. Unauthorized use against systems you do not own or have written permission to test is illegal and may violate computer fraud laws.
Workflow
Step 1: Establish Baseline Bandwidth Measurements
iperf3 -s -p 5201
iperf3 -c 10.10.20.10 -t 30 -P 4 -p 5201
ping -c 100 10.10.20.10 | tail -1
iperf3 -c 10.10.20.10 -u -b 100M -t 10 -p 5201
echo "Baseline: BW=$(iperf3 -c 10.10.20.10 -t 10 -f m | tail -1 | awk '{print $7}') Mbps" > baseline.txt
echo "Latency: $(ping -c 50 10.10.20.10 | tail -1)" >> baseline.txt
