Evaluation of LTE/LTE-A Network Security

This report evaluates the security of LTE/LTE-A network, including a comparison of existing cellular networks, architecture of LTE/LTE-A, evaluation of attacks on access and core networks, and countermeasures for high criticality attacks.

Running head: WIRELESS NETWORK AND SECURITY
Evaluation of LTE/LTE-A Network Security
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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WIRELESS NETWORK AND SECURITY
Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..............................................................................................................................................2
1. Comparison of Existing Cellular Network.......................................................................................2
2. Architecture of LTE/ LTE A.............................................................................................................4
3. Evaluation of LTE/ LTE A Attacks on Access and Core Networks....................................................6
4. Identification and Analysis of High Criticality Attack and Countermeasures for this Attack..........7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................7
References.............................................................................................................................................9

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WIRELESS NETWORK AND SECURITY
Introduction
The wireless network can be defined as the significant computer network, which utilizes the
wireless data connection within any two network nodes [3]. This wireless network is the specific
methodology, by which the several telecommunication networks as well as business installations are
avoiding the expensive process to introduce or install cables within any building or the connection
within the several equipment locations. These wireless telecommunication networks could be easily
implemented as well as administered with the help of radio communication. The most significant
examples of the wireless networks are cell phone network, wireless sensor network, WLAN or
wireless local area networks, LTE or the long term evolutions, satellite communication network and
many more [8]. The following report will be outlining a brief discussion on the wireless network and
security properly. The specific comparison between the existing cellular networks, the architecture
of LTE or LTE A, the evaluation of the several attacks on this network and the proper identification
and mitigation of such attacks will be provided in this report.
Discussion
1. Comparison of Existing Cellular Network
There are some of the most popular and significant cellular networks in the wireless network
field [11]. Amongst them, the basic examples are LTE, WiMax or Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access, the GSM or the globalized system for all mobile communications, Wi-Fi or
wireless fidelity and many others. The comparison of these popular examples is given below:
Serial
Numb
er
Key
Feature
s
LTE/ LTE A WiMax GSM Wireless
Fidelity
a) Commu
nication
Spectru
m
The significant
communication
spectrum of the
Long term
Evolution
network has
various frequency
allocations of LTE
frequency bands
The significant
communication
spectrum of the WiMax
cellular network are
divided into 11 parts,
which are ELF, SLF, ULF,
VLF, LF, MF, HF, VHF,
UHF, SHF and EHF [1].
The respective
The
communication
spectrum of
GSM network is
divided into 14
frequency
bands, which
starts from
380MHz to
The
communicatio
n spectrum of
wireless
fidelity is from
2.4GHz to
5GHz.

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WIRELESS NETWORK AND SECURITY
[6]. The recent
LTE bands are
between 1 and 22
for the paired
spectrum, and
LTE bands are
between 33 and
41 for the
unpaired
spectrum.
frequencies are 3Hz till
30Hz, 30Hz till 300Hz,
300Hz till 3000Hz, 3KHz
till 30KHz, 30KHz till
300KHz, 300KHz till
3000KHz, 3MHz till
30MHz, 30MHz till
300MHz, 300MHz till
3000MHz, 3GHz till
30GHz, 30GHz till
300GHz respectively [5].
1900MHz [10].
b) Modula
tion
Techniq
ues
The modulation
techniques of LTE
are QPSK, 64QAM
and 16QAM [9].
The modulation
techniques of WiMax
are BPSK, QPSK, 64QAM
and 16QAM.
The modulation
technique of
GSM is GMSK.
The
modulation
techniques of
Wi-Fi are CCK
and QPSK.
c) Medium
Access
Control
Mechan
ism
The MAC
mechanism of LTE
is downlink
through put of
one single LTE cell
that provides the
wide band CQI
feedback scheme.
The MAC mechanism of
WiMax is that it covers
areas at high
transmission speed and
hence giving rise to
802.16x standards [2].
The MAC
mechanism of
GSM is that it is
designed for
maximization
of using the
costly
spectrum. The
protocols here
are PDCP and
RLC.
The MAC
mechanism of
Wi-Fi is
dependent on
throughput,
number of
nodes, battery
power
consumption
and many
others [4].
d) Networ
k Speed
and
Bandwi
dth
Utilizati
on
The speed of LTE
is around 50Mbps
and the
bandwidth
utilization of this
network is that
the radio
The speed of WiMax is
around 40 Mbps and
the bandwidth is shared
within several
terminals.
The speed of
GSM is not
more than 7.2
Mb per second
and the
bandwidth is
divided to 124
The speed of
the Wi-Fi
network is
different in
theoretical
and actual [7].
The

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WIRELESS NETWORK AND SECURITY
planning pertains
for the maximum
acceptable LTE
radio interface
load [1].
carrier
frequencies.
theoretical
speed starts
from 11Mbps
to 600Mbps
and the actual
speed starts
from 5.5Mbps
to 100Mbps.
These are
different for
different
protocols.
e) Security
Techniq
ues and
Risks
There are some
of the major
security risks in
LTE and amongst
them the most
dangerous is the
man-in-the-
middle attack. For
this risk, the
technique of
encryption is
being
implemented.
The major risks of
WiMax are the denial of
service attack and man-
in-the-middle attack
and the security
techniques used by this
network are
authentication and
encryption.
The security
risks of GSM
are DoS attacks
and network
manipulation.
They have used
authentication
in their
network [8].
The security
risks of Wi-Fi
network are
war driving
and cracking
attacks. The
security
techniques for
these attacks
are encryption
and
passwords.
2. Architecture of LTE/ LTE A
The architecture of this LTE or the LTE A is much simpler than any other network. There are
three major components of this particular network and these are the significant user equipment or
the UE, the respective evolved packet cores or the EPC as well as evolved UMTS terrestrial radio
access networks or the E-UTRAN [7]. The internal architecture of the UE for this LTE comprises of the
three important modules, viz. Mobile Terminations or MT for handling the communication function,
the Terminal Equipment or TE for the purpose of terminating the data stream and the Universal

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WIRELESS NETWORK AND SECURITY
Integrated Circuit Cards or the UICC for running the applications called the USIM or Universal
Subscriber Identity Module.
The distinct architecture of the E-UTRAN is given below:
Figure 1: E-UTRAN Architecture
(Source: Rangan et al. 2014)
The second part is the EPC or the Evolved Packet Core, which comprises of few components
of EIR or Equipment Identity Register, ETWS or Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System and finally
PCRF or Policy Control and Charging Rules Function [3].

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WIRELESS NETWORK AND SECURITY
Figure 2: Architecture of EPC
(Source: Vakilian et al. 2013)
The above figure clearly demonstrates the entire architecture of Evolved Packet Core or EPC
of the LTE or LTE A.
3. Evaluation of LTE/ LTE A Attacks on Access and Core Networks
There are some of the major and the most significant attacks on the accessing and the core
networks of Long Term Evolution and its advanced version [12]. The major attacks are given below:
i) DNS Redirection Attack: This is considered as one of the major and the most nefarious
attack of LTE on access as well as core networks. The DNS hijacking is the malicious attack that is
responsible for redirecting the queries of any specific authenticated user to the DNS or domain
name server by simply overriding his computer system’s TCP or IP protocols [5].
ii) Man in the Middle Attacks: The second popular and significant vulnerable LTE or LTE A
attack on the access or core networks is the main in the middle attack. An intruder or hacker sits in
between the network and the authenticated user and then secretly relays or even possibly changes
the distinct communication within the two authorized parties, who eventually believe that they are
directly sending messages or communicating with each other [10]. The intruder could even change r
alter the message for his own benefit and hence the integrity as well as the confidentiality of that

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WIRELESS NETWORK AND SECURITY
sensitive message is being lost. The most vital example of this man in the middle attack is the
eavesdropping.
iii) Network Manipulation: Another significant and vulnerable LTE attack on the access
networks and core networks is the network manipulation [9]. It is again extremely common for this
type of wireless networks, where the perpetrator manipulates the network and the data is received
by him by losing the confidentiality and integrity.
iv) Denial of Service Attacks: This type of attack clearly states that the perpetrator is seeking
into the machine and thus denying any type of access to the machine. The user gets no idea of these
types of attacks and his network is being hacked.
4. Identification and Analysis of High Criticality Attack and Countermeasures for this Attack
Amongst the above mentioned discussed attacks of LTE or LTE-A, the attack with the highest
criticality is the DNS Redirection Attack. It is the core practice to subvert the resolution of the
Domain Name Servers or the DNS queries [4]. The TCP or IP configuration is overridden by the attack
in this attack and the DNS servers come under the management of that attacker. The trusted DNS
server is being eventually modified so that this server is not complied with the respective internet
standards.
The significant countermeasures for dealing with the DNS Redirection Attack in LTE network
is by selecting a domain registrar, which offers multifactor authentication for locking DNS settings
and enhancing the cyber security for the cache positioning [11].
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the wireless networks are
specific computer networks, which are eventually linked with the help of cables of some kind. The
proper utilization of this wireless network helps to enable the organizations in avoiding the costly
procedure to install cables. One of the most popular and important example of the wireless network
is LTE or long term evolution or LTE A or long term evolution advanced. These types of wireless
networks are responsible for providing advanced services with the high bandwidths, low latency and
better efficiency of spectrum. However, these types of wireless networks are extremely vulnerable
to the several risks or security threats and thus these security threats are to be mitigated as soon as
possible. The above report has clearly demonstrated a brief discussion on the LTE or long term
evolution in respect to the other wireless networks. A significant comparison is done in terms of
communication spectrum, MAC mechanism and many others. Moreover, the entire architecture of

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WIRELESS NETWORK AND SECURITY
this particular wireless network is also provided here with the probable attacks and their
countermeasures.

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WIRELESS NETWORK AND SECURITY
References
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[11] Ding, Zhiguo, Yuanwei Liu, Jinho Choi, Qi Sun, Maged Elkashlan, I. Chih-Lin, and H. Vincent Poor.
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