Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to methods and apparatuses for handling malicious attacks. In one aspect, the methods and apparatuses are configured to identify packets received from a malicious source based at least in part on packets received by a wireless device that change a state of the wireless device from a dormant state to a connected state, selectively disconnect the wireless device from a packet data network (PDN) by releasing a first Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect the wireless device to the PDN when a number of packets identified as received from the malicious source reaches a threshold number within a monitoring period, and reconnect the wireless device to the PDN using a second IP address that is different from the first IP address. In another aspect, a connection to an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) PDN is maintained after the PDN is disconnected.