Major US Carriers Announce Plans For Next-Gen Mobile Authentication

[LASER_oneXM]

However given that no security system is perfect as eventually hackers can find ways around them, it means that such systems need to evolve which is what major US carriers have come together to do. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon have recently announced that they are working on a next-gen mobile authentication system under the banner group “Mobile Authentication Taskforce”.

Through this system, it will take into account a variety of factors to determine the user’s identity and whether or not actions performed by them are indeed by the user. This system will consider factors such as IP address, SIM card attributes, phone account type, a network verified number, and so on.

 

[upnorth]

Sounds IMO the issue is the network itself...

While 4G LTE provides for a level of privacy for cellular customers through the use of ephemeral “subscriber identities” over the air, researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology recently found that the Globally Unique Temporary Identifier (GUTI) issued by a majority of 4G LTE carriers was far from temporary. While carriers do change the GUTI for phones periodically, the KAIST researchers found that 19 of the 28 carriers they surveyed did so in a very predictable way—making it easy to predict not only when a new ID would be assigned but also what most of the new GUTI would be, because much of it went unchanged.

“In our global-scale measurement analysis, we did not find a single carrier that implemented GUTI reallocation securely,” the KAIST researchers wrote. A similar problem exists in 3G GSM networks’ temporary subscriber IDs.

The exploits discovered by the Purdue/Iowa team go beyond simple location tracking. One exploit allows tracking of a target by just using a phone number, sending a phone call while simultaneously blocking call notification by hijacking the target’s paging network connection. Another attack allows a malicious device to pose as the target device through an “authentication relay” attack before sending its own location data and other messages to distort carrier location data logs.

The paging network, which also carries SMS and other messages, can be hijacked for other purposes: to send messages to the network posing as the target, inject fake emergency alert messages, quietly kick the victim off the cellular network, or conduct denial-of-service and power depletion attacks against the victim.

Source : LTE security flaws could be used for spying, spreading chaos

 

[ForgottenSeer 58943]

Last year I read a few stories that made me realize how fast they can hijack our mobile devices and systems. John McAfee said in about 60 seconds they took over his phone to the point he had to throw it in the trash.

A well known activist said they nailed him so fast and started taking over his accounts in minutes. Likely US Intelligence. He said he got a text authorizing login to his Gmail account, and before he could respond someone already authorized that SMS and took over his account. Basically they intercepted his SMS in realtime and used that to authenticate their login.

So yeah, we need REAL security.

 

[Daviworld]

LTE already has 19 known vulnerabilities that can be exploited in the real-world, so if a State backed actor decided to compromise a device. They have all the access, control's, and exploit's they need to circumvent almost any security posture. Seeing as how none of the LTE security hole's are getting patched anytime soon, I'll have to wait and see how they do with security in the mobile 5G network, because so far I am unimpressed

 

[upnorth]

if a State backed actor decided to compromise a device. They have all the access, control's, and exploit's they need to circumvent almost any security posture.

You don't have to be a State backed actor.

Anyone can build the equipment to power the attacks for as little as $1,300 to $3,900.

Using panic attack, attackers can create artificial chaos by broadcasting fake emergency messages about life-threatening attacks or riots to a large number of users in an area.

What's interesting about these attacks is that many of these can be carried out for $1,300 to $3,900 using relatively low-cost USRP devices available in the market.

Source :
New attacks on 4G LTE networks can allow to spy on users and spoof emergency alerts

New 4G LTE Network Attacks Let Hackers Spy, Track, Spoof and Spam