RAN - Radio Access Network SECURITY

The Radio Access Network (RAN) is a critical component of a mobile telecommunications system. It encompasses the infrastructure that connects mobile devices to the core network and facilitates wireless communication. Ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability is imperative in maintaining robust radio access network security. Matrix Shell provides comprehensive radio access network security solutions in accordance with the GSMA guidelines document FS31.

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Security Aspects

  • Protection Against Unauthorized Access: RAN security prevents unauthorized entities from gaining access to the network infrastructure, ensuring that only legitimate users can connect to the mobile network.
  • Confidentiality of User Data: Ensures that user data, including voice calls, text messages, and data transmissions, is encrypted and kept confidential, protecting users from eavesdropping and privacy breaches.
  • Integrity of Communication: RAN security measures prevent tampering and unauthorized alterations of communication between mobile devices and the network, ensuring the integrity of transmitted data.
  • Prevention of Network Disruptions: Protects against attacks that could disrupt RAN operations, such as denial-of-service attacks, ensuring the availability and reliability of mobile services.
  • Authentication and Authorization: Implements robust authentication and authorization mechanisms to verify the identity of users and devices, preventing unauthorized access and protecting against identity theft.
  • Mitigation of Network Attacks: Guards against various network-level attacks, including man-in-the-middle attacks, session hijacking, and other security threats that can compromise the trustworthiness of the network.
  • Securing Mobile Backhaul:
    The security of the backhaul connections that link RAN components to the core network is vital to prevent interception and unauthorized access to sensitive data.
  • Protection Against Radio Jamming: RAN security helps mitigate the risk of radio jamming attacks, ensuring that wireless communication remains operational and interference-free.
  • Subscriber Identity Protection: Safeguards against attacks targeting subscriber identity information, preventing unauthorized access to International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) and other subscriber-related details.
  • Compliance with Regulatory Standards: Ensures adherence to regulatory requirements and standards for mobile network security, avoiding legal consequences and penalties for non-compliance.
  • Prevention of Location Tracking: Protects against unauthorized tracking of the location of mobile devices, preserving user privacy and preventing misuse of location information.
  • Secure Device Management: Ensures that mobile devices connecting to the RAN have secure configurations, protecting against vulnerabilities and minimizing the risk of compromised devices.

Methodlogy

Phase 01

Discovery & Fingerprinting:

Initiate the assessment by gathering information about the service architecture. This involves uncovering its footprint, like identifying technologies and components, and fingerprinting its specific configuration.

Phase 02

Manual Penetration Testing:

Dive deeper into the Radio Access Network’s security posture using traffic analyzer and manual techniques of exploitation. This phase offers valuable insights even with limited network knowledge.

Phase 03

Test Execution & Validation:

Execute the test scenarios with reference to FS31 GSMA guideline document to validate the effectiveness of security controls against various threat categories.

testing scope

Radio Access Network (RAN) presents a critical but often overlooked attack surface in mobile networks. As the bridge between core infrastructure and subscribers, its security directly impacts the integrity and confidentiality. Matrix Shell’s RAN security program, with its focus offers a proactive approach to understanding and improving your network’s security posture

Scope Coverage

  • 2G/3G/4G/5G
  • Open RAN

Attack surface

  • Core/RAN exploitation
  • Traffic interception
  • Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks
  • Man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attacks
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deliverables

Test Plan

  • Scope and objectives
  • Methodology
  • Tools and techniques
  • Testing scheduling
  • Comprehensive set of test cases

Detailed Technical Report

  • Detailed description of each test case executed.
  • Identified vulnerabilities and potential security risks.
  • Detailed Recommendations for mitigation and remediation.

Summary Report

  • Executive summary of the testing findings
  • Overall assessment security posture

Additional Deliverables

  • Ongoing support for fixing the found vulnerabilities.
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