New Vulnerabilities in 5G Networks

New vulnerabilities in 5G networks

• Security in 5G networks has improved but new vulnerabilities have been discovered
• Vulnerabilities affect both operator infrastructure and end-devices
• Low-cost hardware and software platforms can be used to exploit these vulnerabilities
• Implementation issues in 4G base stations and NB-IoT protocols can lead to battery draining, hijacking, and bidding down attacks
• Attacks can affect a range of devices from high-speed LTE to NB-IoT devices

The speaker discussed the security features of 5G networks and how new vulnerabilities have been discovered that can be exploited using low-cost hardware and software platforms. They also revealed implementation issues in 4G base stations and NB-IoT protocols that can lead to various attacks. These vulnerabilities can affect a range of devices from high-speed LTE to NB-IoT devices.

The security in the 5G network has evolved and is more efficient than the previous generations. In this talk, we visit security features of 5G radio networks and reveal new vulnerabilities affecting both the operator infrastructure and end-devices (including mobiles, NB-IoT, laptop etc). We demonstrate how these new vulnerabilities in the 5G/4G security standards can be exploited using low-cost hardware and software platforms. In particular, we introduce a new automated tool to carry out practical evaluation and share data-sets with the research community. In addition, we reveal implementation issues in hundreds of 4G base stations around the world and in commercially available NB-IoT protocols that can be used to mount battery draining, hijacking and bidding down attacks. Our attacks affect to the range from gigabit high speed LTE devices to NB-IoT devices.