Security attacks against the availability of LTE mobility networks: Overview and research directions

Modern LTE (Long Term Evolution) cellular networks provide advanced services for billions of users that go beyond traditional voice and short messaging traffic. The recent trend of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks impacting the availability of communication systems illustrate the importance of strengthening the resiliency of mobility networks against Denial of Service (DoS) and DDoS threats, ensuring this way full LTE network availability against security attacks. In parallel, the advent of the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) has capsized the common assumptions about attackers and threats. When it comes to very well planned and funded cyber-attacks, the scale of the threat is not the key element anymore. Instead, scenarios such as a local DoS attack, for example, against the cell service around a large corporation´s headquarters or the Stock Exchange become very relevant. Therefore, traditionally overlooked low range threats, such as radio jamming, should not be de-prioritized in security studies. In this paper we present an overview of the current threat landscape against the availability of LTE mobility networks. We identify a set of areas of focus that should be considered in mobility security in order to guarantee availability against security attacks. Finally, we introduce potential research directions, including a new attack detection layer, to tackle these problems. The final goal is to rethink the architecture of a mobility network within the current security context and threat landscape and considering the current evolution towards a near future scenario where nearly every electronic device will be connected through Machine-to-Machine (M2M) systems.