Systematic Security Analysis of Cellular Network Specifications and Implementations

ABSTRACT

Cellular networks are the bedrock of modern communication. The recent deployment of 5G has generated further enthusiasm and opportunities in both academia and industry. Therefore, the security of cellular networks is critical. In this talk, I will elaborate on the critical challenges of ensuring cellular network security and move on to my research on enhancing the security and privacy of the networks. I will first talk about analyzing the 4G/5G specifications and my recent works SPEC5G and CellularLint. I will elaborate on how using the SPEC5G dataset and state-of-the-art Large Language Models (LLMs) CellularLint can detect inconsistencies in the specifications. Then, switching to the implementation point of view, I will detail the techniques I have developed for the noncompliance checking of cellular implementations. Overall, these approaches and the associated vulnerabilities have led to several changes in the design of 4G and 5G cellular standards and have uncovered numerous security and privacy issues in various protocols and system implementations. Lastly, I will discuss the defensive approaches devised to detect/defend against some of these attacks and conclude by outlining my forthcoming research vision for enhancing the resilience of future cellular networks (6G and beyond) and wireless communication protocols in general.

BIOGRAPHY

Imtiaz Karim is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Computer Science at Purdue University working with Prof. Elisa Bertino. He received his Ph.D. from the same department in Spring 2023. His research focuses on network and system security, particularly the security and privacy of wireless communication protocols, such as cellular networks (4G/5G), Bluetooth, VoWiFi, vehicular networks, Wi-Fi, and IoT. He has been inducted into the GSMA Mobile Security Research Hall of Fame three times, has received acknowledgments from the Wi-Fi Alliance and the O-RAN Alliance, and has received numerous bug bounties, CVDs, and CVEs.