Cellular Security: Why is it difficult?

Abstract

In the last 10 years, I have been working on various cellular security problems publishing more than 10 papers. The topics include privacy [1, 5, 11], accounting [2, 3, 4], service security [3], Middleboxes and IPV6 [4], automatic performance analysis [4], (semi-)automatic security analysis [7, 9, 10], and physical layers [8]. Throughout these studies, and interactions with device vendors, carriers and 3GPP/GSMA representatives, I found several fundamental problems cellular industry is facing. I believe these problems could be the root cause for many of the vulnerabilities found by researchers. I will first explain 5 key insights that distinguish the cellular network security from traditional network security, including generation changes (4G vs. 5G), governance and closedness issues. I then talk about several technical difficulties cellular security research is facing. Several real examples will be given to connect concrete vulnerabilities and those technical difficulties. At the end of the talk, I will briefly talk about some suggestions to improve security of cellular networks.