Exploiting Channel Fragmentation and Aggregation/Bonding to Create Security Vulnerabilities

We address a unique security vulnerability due to spectrum fragmentation, aggregation, and bonding in IEEE 802.22-based dynamic spectrum access (DSA) networks and in Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and Evolved High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) networks. Typically, channel fragmentation, aggregation, and bonding have been perceived as a means of enhancing the bandwidth and throughput for the users. However, this could also result in losing orthogonality between the bonded or fragmented spectrum bands. We show this leads to a security vulnerability that can be exploited by an attacker to cause service disruptions. We present an analysis of two types of attacks, i.e., the MAXimum IMPact (MAXIMP) attack, wherein the attackers try to cause maximum service disruptions by transmitting at maximum power, and the MINPOW attack, wherein the attackers transmit at minimum power just to create a targeted level of service disruption. Results indicate that, although the MAXIMP attack can cause up to about 16% loss in the capacity of the system, the MINimum POWer (MINPOW) attack, which is more difficult to detect than the MAXIMP attack, can cause 11%-15% loss in throughput.