LTE Security

Dan Forsberg · Günther Horn · Wolf-Dietrich Moeller · Valtteri Niemi

Jun 2011 · John Wiley & Sons

About this ebook

Addressing the security solutions for LTE, a cellular technology from Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), this book shows how LTE security substantially extends GSM and 3G security. It also encompasses the architectural aspects, known as SAE, to give a comprehensive resource on the topic. Although the security for SAE/LTE evolved from the security for GSM and 3G, due to different architectural and business requirements of fourth generation systems the SAE/LTE security architecture is substantially different from its predecessors. This book presents in detail the security mechanisms employed to meet these requirements.

Whilst the industry standards inform how to implement systems, they do not provide readers with the underlying principles behind security specifications. LTE Security fills this gap by providing first hand information from 3GPP insiders who explain the rationale for design decisions.

Key features:

• Provides a concise guide to the 3GPP/LTE Security Standardization specifications
• Authors are leading experts who participated in decisively shaping SAE/LTE security in the relevant standardization body, 3GPP
• Shows how GSM and 3G security was enhanced and extended to meet the requirements of fourth generation systems
• Gives the rationale behind the standards specifications enabling readers to have a broader understanding of the context of these specifications
• Explains why LTE security solutions are designed as they are and how theoretical security mechanisms can be put to practical use

About the author

Dan Forsberg received a M.Sc. degree in Computer Science (software engineering and telecommunications software) from the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, in March 2000. He was a core member and developer of The Dynamics - HUT Mobile IP software. He worked in Nokia Research Center in Helsinki from 2000 to 2009. At Nokia Dan was involved in and led many research projects focused on mobility and security for future mobile devices. He was active in IETF and authored some Internet-Drafts and one standards track RFC in the area of user to network interfaces (EAP, AAA, PANA). In recent years, the main focus of his work has been on the SAE/LTE security standardization in the 3GPP security group (SA3). Dan led the SAE/LTE security standardization in Nokia from around 2005 to 2009. He was also nominated as one of the Nokia top inventors in 2007-2008. Dan began his PhD studies while working at Nokia and has published several scientific papers in the area of "improving and distributing session key management for mobile networks". He joined Helsinki University of Technology in 2009 to finalize his PhD studies. Dan is also a skilled software engineer, a Unix and network administration expert and established his own company in 2010 for consulting on security and software development.

Günther Horn received a PhD (Dr.rer.nat.) degree in Mathematics from the University of Tübingen, Germany, in 1985. He served as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of California at Irvine in 1985. He joined the Corporate Technology Labs of Siemens AG in Munich in 1986. In 2007, he joined Nokia Siemens Networks. He has been engaged in research on and standardization of new telecommunications systems, including security in mobile networks, fraud control, and mobile applications security. He has been active in many collaborative research projects sponsored by the European Union. In recent years, the focus of his work has been on the standardization of 3G security and SAE/LTE security in the 3GPP security group (SA3), of which he has been a member since it started in 1999. Before this, he contributed to ETSI SMG. He has published on communications security in conference proceedings, journals, and books.

Wolf-Dietrich Moeller studied Physics and Electrical Engineering in Berlin, Glasgow and Munich. With his research work on semiconductor device technology at Technische Universität München (TUM) he received his Dr.-Ing. degree in 1977. In the same year he joined the Corporate Technology Labs of Siemens AG in Munich. After leading a research group on microprocessor architectures and VLSI chip design from 1983 until 1993, in recent years his main subject has been research in security for mobile communications, device integrity and security hardware. He has been active in European and German collaborative research projects, and contributes to the standardisation of mobile security in 3GPP. Since 2007 he has worked at Nokia Siemens Networks Research and Technology Labs in research, standardisation and systems engineering for fixed and mobile networks. Recently he contributed to the book Selected Topics in Communication Networks and Distributed Systems (forthcoming).

Valtteri Niemi received a PhD degree in Mathematics from the University of Turku, Finland in 1989. After serving in various positions at University of Turku, he became an Associate Professor in Mathematics at the University of Vaasa, Finland, during 1993-97. He joined Nokia Research Center (NRC), Helsinki in 1997 where he has contributed in several roles for Nokia research in the wireless security area, including cryptological aspects. In 2008, he moved to the new NRC laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland, where his main focus is on privacy-enhancing technologies. He was nominated as a Nokia Fellow in January 2009. He has participated to the 3GPP SA3 (security) standardization group from the beginning. During 2003-2009 he was the chairman of the group.
Before 3GPP, Niemi took part in ETSI SMG 10 for GSM security work. He has published more than 40 scientific articles and he is a co-author of three books.