NETWORK SIGNALLING SECURITY

We have all heard of terms 2G GSM, 3G UMTS or 4G LTE.  This module will look at the various mobile generations and, along with them, the different ways they communicate through signalling protocols.  In addition, we will examine the architectures and the standards of these systems.

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Today when arriving in another country merely taking your mobile phone off of “airplane mode” gets you access to the services you enjoy at home.  But in order for this to work, a great deal of signalling messages needs to be exchanged between the home network and the visited network.  There are some inherent threats that make this messaging insecure.  In this module, we will look at some of those threats.

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In this module, we will start by giving a brief overview of the various SS7 layers and their security issues.  Though potential harm exists in each layer, it is the SCCP layer that contains some of the more “useful” information about origination and destination addressing. Signalling Transport (Sigtran) greatly increased the capacity of the traditional low-speed links.  Being “IP-based”, it has introduced some unique signalling security challenges.  This module will also explore some of those challenges.

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Certainly, the “crown jewel” of information exchanged between networks is the application layer known as GSM MAP.  Here the user’s authentication information, identity, location and profile data is routinely exchanged.  In this module, we will look at the various GSM MAP messages and their respective “categories”.

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With billions of SMS text messages sent around the world each day, security, quite naturally, becomes a necessity.  It not only includes things like spam and fraud, but also things like A2P monetization which enhances revenue.  In this module, we will examine the various threats and the countermeasures.

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Diameter is one of the primary signalling protocols in some 3G networks and all 4G networks.  As a signalling protocol, it is also not secure.  And, in many ways, it is less secure than SS7 primarily because of how it routes messages as compared with SS7.  After a brief look at where Diameter is used (in IMS, LTE, policy, charging) we will go into the security issues that it faces.

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GTP signalling has been a part of mobile network signalling since the mid-1990s.   Since these messages travel on the GPRS Exchange (GRX) or IP Exchange (IPX) between networks, they can be exploited at the interfaces exposed to those networks.  And, just like SS7 and Diameter, GTP messages routinely carry a wealth of user data that can be exploited and manipulated.  This module will identify the risks and countermeasures.

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SIP has recently found itself much more active in the mobile telecom industry with VoLTE.  The roots of SIP are in IP-based technologies so it has a much larger potential security threat.  Plus, SIP has many more optional fields and parameters along with varying implementations.  This module will briefly overview what SIP is along with how it is being deployed for VoLTE.  Lastly, we will identify the potential attacks and what steps are necessary to counter them.

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