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