The Messenger Shoots Back: Network Operator Based IMSI Catcher Detection

An IMSI Catcher, also known as Stingray or rogue cell, is a device that can be used to not only locate cellular phones, but also to intercept communication content like phone calls, SMS or data transmission unbeknown to the user. They are readily available as commercial products as well as do-it-yourself projects running open-source software, and are obtained and used by law enforcement agencies and criminals alike. Multiple countermeasures have been proposed recently to detect such devices from the user’s point of view, but they are limited to the nearby vicinity of the user.

[1]  Eli Biham,et al.  Instant Ciphertext-Only Cryptanalysis of GSM Encrypted Communication , 2003, CRYPTO.

[2]  Songwu Lu,et al.  New Threats to SMS-Assisted Mobile Internet Services from 4G LTE Networks , 2015, ArXiv.

[3]  Thomas Johansson,et al.  Another attack on A5/1 , 2003, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[4]  Steve Gold.  Cracking GSM , 2011, Netw. Secur..

[5]  Wei Sun,et al.  Small Tweaks Do Not Help: Differential Power Analysis of MILENAGE Implementations in 3G/4G USIM Cards , 2015, ESORICS.

[6]  Adi Shamir,et al.  A Practical-Time Attack on the A5/3 Cryptosystem Used in Third Generation GSM Telephony , 2010, IACR Cryptol. ePrint Arch..

[7]  C. Devine,et al.  How to not break LTE crypto , 2016 .

[8]  Tim Güneysu,et al.  Cryptanalysis with COPACOBANA , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Computers.

[9]  Hai Thanh Nguyen,et al.  Detecting IMSI-Catcher Using Soft Computing , 2015, SCDS.

[10]  Valtteri Niemi,et al.  Practical Attacks Against Privacy and Availability in 4G/LTE Mobile Communication Systems , 2015, NDSS.

[11]  Joeri de Ruiter,et al.  Defeating IMSI Catchers , 2015, CCS.

[12]  David Rupprecht,et al.  Putting LTE Security Functions to the Test: A Framework to Evaluate Implementation Correctness , 2016, WOOT.

[13]  Edgar R. Weippl,et al.  IMSI-catch me if you can: IMSI-catcher-catchers , 2014, ACSAC.

[14]  Adi Shamir,et al.  A Practical-Time Related-Key Attack on the KASUMI Cryptosystem Used in GSM and 3G Telephony , 2010, CRYPTO.

[15]  Christopher Soghoian,et al.  Your Secret Stingray's No Secret Anymore: The Vanishing Government Monopoly over Cell Phone Surveillance and Its Impact on National Security and Consumer Privacy , 2014 .