Debilities of the UMTS Security Mode Set-Up Procedure and Attacks against UMTS/HSPA Device

A study and identification of vulnerabilities during the set-up procedure of the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) and how some of them can be exploited. For accomplishment a good understanding of the security messages exchange, a part of UMTS architecture is developed firstly. After the explanation of the security mode set-up procedure debilities, the chapter identify attacks that take advantage of the fact that some messages during their exchange in the process are not protected. The attacks indicated in the chapter are mostly of Denial of Service (DoS) kind, and mainly are performed with a rogue BTS.

UMTS

The aim of this chapter is to provide a brief yet comprehensive overview of the 3rd generation UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) mobile network, with emphasis on its specific protocols. Therefore, in this chapter, the basic operation and protocol structure of UMTS network is described. The main architectural changes compared to GSM are shown, as well as the principles of the physical radio interface. The details of other relevant UMTS specific interfaces in the access network and their protocols are provided as well, along with the description of transport network solutions. The most relevant part of UMTS specifications, the radio interface protocols, are also presented.