Security and Privacy in Next Generation Mobile Networks : LTE and Femtocells

Cellular mobile network are used by more than 4 billion users worldwide. Yet, security and privacy issues in the next generation networks have not fully been addressed by the standardization bodies, as several of the upcoming features would inherit many of the current limitations. In this report, we focus on two aspects: privacy of user’s identity/location and the security of femtocell networks. First, we show that GSM, UMTS and LTE are still inefficient in the first aspect because of the centrally managed identity assignment, and we suggest a simple scheme where, by combining central and distributed management, privacy can be preserved even in presence of a capillary deployment of low-range femtocells. Second, by leveraging on the geographic operational requirements of femtocells, we model the dynamics among ISPs and mobile operators in a DDoS defense scenario that is effective against malicious attackers and transparent for legitimate users. We propose and numerically evaluate a novel game-theoretic scheme that, by considering parameters such as Internet traffic and femtocell subscriber shares, could help ISPs and mobile operators making strategic decisions.