To configure MM1 message flood threshold – web-based manager
- Go to Security Profiles > MMS Profile.
- Select Create New.
- Enter MM1 flood for Profile Name.
- Expand MMS Bulk Email Filtering Detection.
- Enter the following information, and select OK.
| MM1 (first column) | |
| Enable | Enable |
| Message Flood Window | 60 minutes |
| Message Flood Limit | 100 |
| Message Flood Block Time | 30 minutes |
| Message Flood Action | Block |
To configure MM1 message flood threshold – CLI
config firewall mms-profile edit profile_name config flood mm1 set status1 enable set window1 60 set limit1 100 set action1 block set block-time1 30
Notifying administrators of floods
end
end
The threshold values that you set for your network will depend on factors such as how busy your network is and the kinds of problems that your network and your subscribers encounter. For example, if your network is not too busy you may want to set message flood thresholds relatively high so that only an exceptional situation will exceed a flood threshold. Then you can use log messages and archived MMS messages to determine what caused the flood.
If your subscribers are experiencing problems with viruses that send excessive amounts of messages, you may want to set thresholds lower and enable blocking to catch problems as quickly as possible and block access to keep the problem from spreading.
Flood actions
When the Carrier-enabled FortiGate unit detects a message flood, it can take any combination of the five actions that you can configure for the flood threshold. For detailed options, see Message Flood.
Notifying administrators of floods
You can configure alert notifications for message floods by selecting the Alert Notification message flood action.
The FortiOS Carrier unit sends alert notifications to administrators using the MM1, MM3, MM4, or MM7 content interface. To send an alert notification you must configure addresses and other settings required for the content interface.
For example, to send notifications using the MM1 content interface you must configure a source MSISDN, hostname, URL, and port to which to send the notification. You can also configure schedules for when to send the notifications.
Finally you can add multiple MSISDN numbers to the MMS protection profile and set which flood thresholds to send to each MSISDN.
Example — three flood threshold levels with different actions for each threshold
You can set up to three threshold levels to take different actions at different levels of activity.
The first example threshold records log messages when a subscriber’s handset displays erratic behavior by sending multiple messages using MM1 at a relatively low threshold. The erratic behavior could indicate a problem with the subscriber’s handset. For example, you may have determined for your network that if a subscriber sends more the 45 messages in 30 minutes that you want to record log messages as a possible indication or erratic behavior.
From the web-based manager in an MMS profile set message Flood Threshold 1 to:
| Enable | Selected |
Example — three flood threshold levels with different actions for each threshold
| Message Flood Window | 30 minutes |
| Message Flood Limit | 45 |
| Message Flood Action | Log |
From the CLI:
config firewall mms-profile edit profile_name config flood mm1 set status1 enable set window1 30 set limit1 45 set action1 log
end
end
Set a second higher threshold to take additional actions when a subscriber sends more that 100 messages in 30 minutes. Set the actions for this threshold to log the flood, archive the message that triggered the second threshold, and block the sender for 15 minutes.
From the web-based manager in an MMS profile set message Flood Threshold 2 to:
| Enable | Selected |
| Message Flood Window | 30 minutes |
| Message Flood Limit | 100 |
| Message Block Time | 15 minutes |
| Message Flood Action | Log, DLP archive First message only, Block |
From the CLI:
config firewall mms-profile edit profile_name config flood mm1 set status2 enable set window2 30 set limit2 100
set action2 block log archive-first set block-time2 15
end
end
Set the third and highest threshold to block the subscriber for an extended period and sand an administrator alert if the subscriber sends more than 200 messages in 30 minutes. Set the actions for this threshold to block the sender for four hours (240 minutes), log the flood, archive the message that triggered the third threshold, and send an alert to the administrator.
From the web-based manager in an MMS profile set message Flood Threshold 3 to:
Example — three flood threshold levels with different actions for each threshold
| Enable | Selected |
| Message Flood Window | 30 minutes |
| Message Flood Limit | 200 |
| Message Block Time | 240 minutes |
| Message Flood Action | Log, Block, Alert Notification |
Because you have selected the Alert Notification action you must also configure alert notification settings. For this example, the source MSISDN is 5551234—telephone number 555-1234. When administrators receive MMS messages from this MSIDSN they can assume a message flood has been detected.
In this example, alert notifications are sent by the FortiOS Carrier unit to the MMSC using MM1. The host name of the MMSC is mmscexample, the MMSC URL is /, and the port used by the MMSC is 80. In this example, the alert notification window starts at 8:00am and extends for eight hours on weekdays (Monday-Friday) and the minimum interval between message flood notifications is two hours.
| Source MSISDN | 5551234 |
| Message Protocol | MM1 |
| Hostname | mmscexample |
| URL | / |
| Port | 80 |
| Notifications Per Second Limit | 0 |
| Window Start Time | 8:00 |
| Window Duration | 8:00 |
| Day of Week | Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat |
| Interval | 2 hours |
From the CLI:
config firewall mms-profile edit profile_name config notification alert-flood-1 set alert-src-msisdn 5551234 set set msg-protocol mm1 set mmsc-hostname mmscexample
set mmsc-url / set mmsc-port 80 set rate-limit 0 set tod-window-start 8:00
Notifying message flood senders and receivers
set tod-window-duration 8:00
set days-allowed monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday set alert-int 2 set alert-int-mode hours
end
You must also add the MSISDNs of the administrators to be notified of the message flood. In this example, the administrator flood threshold 3 alert notifications are sent to one administrator with MSISDN 5554321.
To add administrator’s MSISDNs for flood threshold 3 from the web-based manager when configuring a protection profile, select MMS Bulk Email Filtering Detection > Recipient MSISDN > Create New.
| MSISDN | 5554321 |
| Flood Level 3 | Select |
From the CLI:
config firewall mms-profile edit profile_name config notif-msisdn edit 5554321 set threshold flood-thresh-3
end
end
Having trouble configuring your Fortinet hardware or have some questions you need answered? Check Out The Fortinet Guru Youtube Channel! Want someone else to deal with it for you? Get some consulting from Fortinet GURU!