MN603 Networks and Security: Explore the Architecture of LTE/LTE-A

2. Explore the architecture of LTE/LTE-A

3. Evaluate the LTE/LTE-A attacks on the access and core networks.

4. Identify and analyse the attack with highest criticality, and explain the countermeasures taken to address such attack.

Answer:

Introduction:

The main aim of the report is to discuss and compare the wireless networking. The network security based on LTE/LTE-A will also be discussed in this report.  LTE stands for long-term evolution. This is based on UMTS/HSPA and GSM/EDGE. This network provides high speed and better capacity then other networks as this uses different interfaces with different wavelength of radio. This helps in improving the speed, in addition to this they uses core network for improving the speed. The discussion will include performance of all the existing cellular networks in the market.  Further, the paper will focus on the architecture of LTE/LTE-A. The possible attacks for this network will be discussed further in the report.

Comparison between Existing Cellular Networks:

Communication Spectrum:

 In the current communication technology, there are varieties of cellular networks. The various cellular technologies consists of GSM, GPRS , EV-Do , EDGE ,UMTS, DECT, iDEN [1].

GSM: Global system for Mobiles (GSM) is a standard developed by European Telecommunication Standards Institute. This describes the protocols that are needed to be followed by the users of mobiles or networks while using 2nd Generation digital cellular networks.

EV-Do:  The telecommunication that takes place with wireless data communication takes place, through the means of radio waves. This is the advanced and developed version of CDMA2000 standard [4]. This is also used with wireless carrier’s voice service.

EDGE: EDGE was first deployed in the year 2003 with association of Cingular in the United States. This is basically a mobile technology that provides better and improve rate of transmitting data.

UMTS: UMTS was developed by 3^rd Generation Partnership Project. Based on the GSM standard, this is the third generation network for 3G mobiles.

DECT: DECT was basically originated in Europe with a standard created for wireless telephone system. Later on by the people of Europe this was considered as the universal standard and replaced all other existing telephone standards [5].

iDEN: The technology that is connected , so that they can provide users with  benefit for using  cellular telephone and trunked radio. iDEN uses TDMA  and speech density  , so that they can place users in a given  spectral space.

Modulation Technique:

Different networks use different modulation techniques. Starting with 1^st generation network in the cellular networks, after this the 2^nd generation digital network came in the market of networking and kept on expanding the features.

Network Speed and Bandwidth Utilization:

Fig1: Network Architecture for 2g, 3g and 4g

(Source: [6])

Architecture of LTE/LTE-A:

The architecture of LTE contains three components:

The user equipment (UE): This is identical to the one that is used by the UMTS and GSM, this are mobile equipment (ME). Further, there are three important modules of ME that are , Mobile Termination, Terminal Equipment , Universal Integrated Circuit Card.

Fig2: E-UTRAN Working

(Source: [7])

The evolved packet core (EPC): This contains a home subscriber server, packet data network, serving gateway( S-GW) , mobility management entity and policy control and changing rules function.

Fig3: Working of EPS

(Source: [7])

Functional split in the E-UTRAN and EPC 

Fig4: Split in E-UTRAN and EPC

 (Source: [8])

Fig: Network Architecture of LTE/LTE-A

Security Techniques:

Evaluation of Attacks:

Several attacks are faced by LTE/LTE-A network. The attacks occur in the core network, access network or in the IMS network and sometimes-on User equipment. There  are several types of access networks and core network attacks , that are discussed in the next part of the report.

Analyzing and identifying the risks associated with security:

Several risks are there that can affect the network. The attacks can be on access network or on the core network.

Access Network attacks and Core Network attacks:

The main problem that is faced by the access networks  is with the disclosure of International Mobile Subscriber Identity. IMSI needs to be kept confidential , so that the security can be maintained.   With the disclosure of IMSI , the details of the users will get disclose and he location can be easily traced by this. Moreover , all the call details and the conversation made using this network will get disclosed . With the identity getting disclosed, the attackers will be able leak their data with the help of MSISDN. With this, the attackers may attack by tracking down the location of the users. Tracking someone’s location can harm his or her privacy. Researchers states that the location revelation attacks are done by IDR  and by UDR . Other type of attacks that are done on access networks are sniffing, spoofing, De-synchronization attacks.

The first attack that is made in the core network is the attack related to the DOS/DDOS. There is a huge threat for LTE/LTE- A with the attack on DOS/DDOS [8]. To attack the DDOS/DOS botnet is used. This is used to generate attacks on the core network. Secondly, the core network is vulnerable to insider attacks. In these cases, the attackers are the one who have the access to this core network. The insiders have the power to completely stop the base station [9].

Countermeasure for avoid the risks:

To overcome the risks , the countermeasures are as follows:

• The IMSI should be kept confidential; this will protect the network from attackers.
• The system should ensure the security, by providing only the location details while tracking any device, no other information should be shared.
• The network should ensure that no sniffing or data breaching occurs within the networks. This will help the network to maintain the confidentiality of the user’s information.
• To protect the DoS/DDoS against attacks, there are two methods that are needed to be considered are filtering and blackholing. These will help to avoid the attacks on the DoS/DDoS.
• By limiting the authorization insider attack can be prevented within the network.

Conclusion:

The above report discusses about the LTE/LTE-A. The bandwidth and the speed provided by the LTE network are higher than other networks. The above report discusses about the different types of cellular networks and the bandwidth and speed provided by them . Further, the report describes the structure of the LTE networks and the possible risks that are associated with the LTE networks. The impacts of this type of attacks on the network are discussed in the later part of the report. From the above report, it can be concluded that LTE provides a better form of wireless communication with better speed and bandwidth.

References:

[1] J. Cao, M. Ma, H.  Li, Y. Zhang and Z. Luo,  A survey on security aspects for LTE and LTE-A    networks, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 16(1), pp.283-302 ,(2014).

[2] F. Ghavimi and H.H. Chen, M2M communications in 3GPP LTE/LTE-A networks: Architectures, service requirements, challenges, and applications, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 17(2), pp.525-549, (2015).

[3] B. Guo, W. Cao, A. Tao and D. Samardzija, LTE/LTE-A signal compression on the CPRI interface, Bell Labs Technical Journal, 18(2), pp.117-133 ,(2013).

[4] M.K. Hasan, A.F.  Ismail, A.H. Abdalla, K.  Abdullah, H. Ramli, S.  Islam, and R.A. Saeed , August. Inter-cell interference coordination in LTE-A HetNets: A survey on self organizing approaches, In Computing, Electrical and Electronics Engineering (ICCEEE), 2013 International Conference on (pp. 196-201), IEEE, (2013).

[5] M. Labib, V. Marojevic and J.H. Reed, October. Analyzing and enhancing the resilience of LTE/LTE-A systems to RF spoofing. In Standards for Communications and Networking (CSCN), 2015 IEEE Conference on (pp. 315-320), IEEE, (2015).

[6] Y.L.  Lee, T.C.  Chuah, J. Loo and A. Vinel, Recent advances in radio resource management for heterogeneous LTE/LTE-A networks, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 16(4), pp.2142-2180 ,(2014).

[7] M. Lichtman, R.P. Jover, M. Labib, R. Rao, V. Marojevic and J.H. Reed, LTE/LTE-A jamming, spoofing, and sniffing: threat assessment and mitigation, IEEE Communications Magazine, 54(4), pp.54-61 ,(2016).

[8] S. Mishra and N. Mathur, Load Balancing Optimization in LTE/LTE-A Cellular Networks: A Review, arXiv preprint arXiv:1412.7273,(2014).

[9] A. Virdis, G. Stea and G. Nardini, G., 2014, August. SimuLTE-A modular system-level simulator for LTE/LTE-A networks based on OMNeT++. In Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications (SIMULTECH), International Conference on (pp. 59-70),IEEE, (2014).