A signaling attack prevention method and apparatus, where the method includes receiving a general packet radio service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol (GTP-C) message from a serving gateway (SGW), determining whether the GTP-C message is received from an eighth data interface (S8), determining whether a first characteristic parameter of the GTP-C message is valid when the GTP-C message is received from the S8 interface, where the first characteristic parameter includes at least one of an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) of a user, or an identifier of a message source end of the GTP-C message, and discarding the GTP-C message or returning, to the SGW, a GTP-C response message carrying an error code cause value when the first characteristic parameter of the GTP-C message is invalid.