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Cellular Wireless Encryption at Risk

February 5, 2019

You may have heard that cellular carriers are beginning to test and rollout bigger, badder, faster 5G networks. But is the next generation of wireless networks more secure than its predecessors? Apparently not. Naked Security reported that researchers have already uncovered weaknesses in fifth generation (5G) wireless test networks. 5G security is built around 5G AKA (Authentication and Key Agreement), which is an enhanced version of the protocol already used in 3G and 4G networks. The enhancement is intended to reduce the chances of surveillance of 3G and 4G devices by using fake base stations known as IMSI catchers (International Mobile Subscriber Identity-catcher) or more commonly called ‘StingRays’.

According to a research paper revealed last year, the AKA protocol has some deeper issues that 5G is based upon. This means that the encryption can still be compromised by what the researchers call an “activity monitoring attack.” There may be some good news from this discovery. The compromise of 5G security will require a new generation of IMSI catchers, which will take some time to develop. The other hope is that the early disclosure will allow for a future fix to the 5G AKA implementation.

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