Securing against fraud in mobile communications : system design and development in 3G mobile networks

Network security ensures the consistency, integrity, and reliability of telecommunications systems. Authorized network access prevents fraudulent communications and maintains the availability of the systems. However, limited development time, cost reduction pressure and requirement for high reliability in software development have forced mobile carriers to implement the insufficient and inflexible authentication mechanisms. Technical specifications including network architecture, network protocols, and security algorithm are widely available to the public. In addition, both secured and unsecured networks are interconnected by global roaming services. The inadequate system design will make the mobile systems vulnerable to unauthorized access to mobile communications. Compared with GSM mobile systems, 3G mobile systems are equipped with more robust and flexible security mechanisms. The official position taken by mobile carriers, such as NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Vodafone, is that fraudulent communications, usually in the form of cloned mobile phones, are impossible with their 3G mobile systems. Examining the NTT DoCoMo's case, however, we find that this statement is based on weak security assumptions.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Mochizuki, Yujiro, 1973-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Michael A. Cusumano.

• Technology and Policy Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34531

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34531