Vulnerabilities in GSM technology and feasibility of selected attacks

M. Voznak; M. Prokes; L. Sevcik; J. Frnda; Homer Toral-Cruz; Sergej Jakovlev; Peppino Fazio; M. Mehic; M. Mikulec

doi:10.1117/12.2177111

23 May 2015 Vulnerabilities in GSM technology and feasibility of selected attacks

M. Voznak, M. Prokes, L. Sevcik, J. Frnda, Homer Toral-Cruz, Sergej Jakovlev, Peppino Fazio, M. Mehic, M. Mikulec

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9456, Sensors, and Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) Technologies for Homeland Security, Defense, and Law Enforcement XIV; 94560T (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2177111
Event: SPIE Defense + Security, 2015, Baltimore, MD, United States

Abstract

Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) is the most widespread technology for mobile communications in the world and serving over 7 billion users. Since first publication of system documentation there has been notified a potential safety problem’s occurrence. Selected types of attacks, based on the analysis of the technical feasibility and the degree of risk of these weaknesses, were implemented and demonstrated in laboratory of the VSB-Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic. These vulnerabilities were analyzed and afterwards possible attacks were described. These attacks were implemented using open-source tools, software programmable radio USRP (Universal Software RadioPeripheral) and DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial) receiver. GSM security architecture is being scrutinized since first public releases of its specification mainly pointing out weaknesses in authentication and ciphering mechanisms. This contribution also summarizes practically proofed and used scenarios that are performed using opensource software tools and variety of scripts mostly written in Python. Main goal of this paper is in analyzing security issues in GSM network and practical demonstration of selected attacks.

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M. Voznak, M. Prokes, L. Sevcik, J. Frnda, Homer Toral-Cruz, Sergej Jakovlev, Peppino Fazio, M. Mehic, and M. Mikulec "Vulnerabilities in GSM technology and feasibility of selected attacks", Proc. SPIE 9456, Sensors, and Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) Technologies for Homeland Security, Defense, and Law Enforcement XIV, 94560T (23 May 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2177111

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