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Experimental Analysis of the Femtocell Location Verification Techniques

  • Conference paper

Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNSC,volume 7127)

Abstract

Mobile network operators are adapting femtocells in order to simplify their network architecture for increased performance and greater revenue opportunities. While emerging as a new low-cost technology which assures best connectivity, it has also introduced a range of new potential risks for the mobile network operators. Here we study the risks associated with the location verification techniques of femtocells. First we state the goals of location verification and describe techniques implemented in the existing femtocells. We demonstrate how location locking techniques can be defeated by using modern attack vectors against the location verification methods. Our experimental result suggest that location security methods are insufficient to avoid femtocell’s misuse. An attacker can operates the femtocell from an unregistered location, thereby creating problems for various important services such as for assisting emergency call services, for following licensed spectrum rules, for Lawful interception services, and for the commercial purposes.

Keywords

  • Femtocell
  • HNB
  • Security
  • Location

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References

  1. 3GPP, Security of Home Node B (HNB) / Home evolved Node B (HeNB), TS 33.320, V9.1.0 (April 2010), http://www.3gpp.org

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Borgaonkar, R., Redon, K., Seifert, JP. (2012). Experimental Analysis of the Femtocell Location Verification Techniques. In: Aura, T., Järvinen, K., Nyberg, K. (eds) Information Security Technology for Applications. NordSec 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7127. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27937-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27937-9_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27936-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27937-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)