GSM Security and

Encryption

Seminar conducted by
Mrs. SHILPA.K.R (Asst. Professor)
Ms. BHARATI(Asst. Professor)

Seminar presented by
Sachin Kumar M
ABSTRACT:

GSM bears numerous security vulnerabilities. Although

GSM’s architecture is designed in such a way to provide
various security features like authentication, data/ signaling
confidentiality, and secrecy of a user yet the GSM channel is
susceptible to replay, interleaving and man-in-the middle
attacks. The GSM speech service is secure up to the point
where speech enters the core network. However to achieve
end-to-end security it is desired that the GSM subscriber, not
the network operator controls the encryption on the speech
channel. In this paper we have discussed the best algorithm
suited for securing speech in GSM networks.
INTRUDUCTION :
Mobile phones are used on a daily basis by hundreds of
millions of users, over radio links. Emerging wireless
networks share many common characteristics with
traditional wire-line networks such as public switch
telephone/data networks, and hence many security
issues with the wire-line networks also apply to the
wireless Environment. In GSM networks, only the radio
link between the mobile terminal and the base station is
encrypted whereas the rest of the network transmits data
in clear-text.
Cryptography is the art of communicating with secret
data. In voice communication, cryptography refers to the
encrypting and decrypting of voice data through a
possibly insecure data line. The goal is to prevent anyone
who does not have a “key” from receiving and
understanding a transmitted message
 The motivations for security in cellular
telecommunications systems are :
• To secure conversations
• Signaling data from interception
• To prevent cellular telephone fraud.
 The security and authentication mechanisms
incorporated in GSM make it the most secure mobile
communication standard currently available,
particularly in comparison to the analog systems.
 To intercept and reconstruct this signal would require
more highly specialized and expensive equipment to
perform the reception, synchronization, and decoding
of the signal.
LITERATURE SURVEY:

 Suraj Srinivas, “The GSM Standard (An overview of its

security)”, SANS Institute Information Security Reading Room.
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is the most
popular mobile phone system in the world, accounting for 70% of
the world’s digital mobile phones. According to a press release by
the GSM Association in May 2001, there are more than half a
billion GSM mobile phones in use in over 168 countries today.
The phenomenal success in mobile telecommunications is due in
large to GSM.
 A. Beheshti, Mohsen Toorani, “ Solutions to the GSM Security Weaknesses”
Recently, the mobile industry has experienced an extreme increment in
number of its users. The GSM network with the greatest worldwide number of
users succumbs to several security vulnerabilities. Although some of its
security problems are addressed in its upper generations, there are still many
operators using 2G systems. This paper briefly presents the most important
security flaws of the GSM network and its transport channels. It also provides
some practical solutions to improve the security of currently available 2G
systems.
 Mandar M. Kulkarni, Prof. A. S. Bhide, Prafull P.
Chaudhari, “Encryption Algorithm Addressing GSM
Security Issues”, Department of Electronics and
Communication Engineering, S.S.G.B.C.O.E & T Bhusawal,
Maharashtra, India. GSM bears numerous security
vulnerabilities. Although GSM’s architecture is designed in
such a way to provide various security features like
authentication, data/ signaling confidentiality, and secrecy
of a user yet the GSM channel is susceptible to replay,
interleaving and man-in-the middle attacks. The GSM
speech service is secure up to the point where speech
enters the core network. However to achieve end-to-end
security it is desired that the GSM subscriber, not the
network operator controls the encryption on the speech
channel. In this paper we have discussed the best
algorithm suited for securing speech in GSM networks.
METHODOLOGY :

GSM was originally developed in Europe as a replacement for their existing

pan- European Cellular phone system. A committee was formed in 1982 to
develop a roaming network that provides capacity and privacy. By 1987,
eighteen nations made commitments to implement cellular networks based on
GSM. Four years later, commercial networks were in place. GSM is now
made up of over 745.5 million subscribers in 184 countries. The GSM family
is now composed of EDGE, 3GSM, and GPSR.
Mobile phones are used on a daily basis by hundreds of millions of users,
over radio links. Emerging wireless networks share many common
characteristics with traditional wire-line networks such as public switch
telephone/data networks, and hence many security issues with the wire-line
networks also apply to the wireless Environment. Risks in wireless networks
are equal to the sum of the risk of operating a wired network plus the new
risks introduced by weaknesses in wireless protocols. Thus, wireless mobile
communication technology is more vulnerable to security risks than fixed
wired technology as monitoring airwaves is a much easier thing to do.
Establishment of protective measures that guarantee a state of inviolability
from antagonistic acts is an important requirement of wireless
communication.
GSM Network consists of:
• The Mobile Station(MS)
• The Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
• The Network Switching Subsystem (NSS)
• The Operation and Maintenance Centre(OMC)
 Digital 2G systems, such as GSM, PDC, IS-136 TDMA and IS-
95 CDMA, use cryptographic methods for authentication and
confidentiality. GSM standard implements security features
which ensure physical security, confidentiality, user
authentication, and user anonymity .
 Slow frequency hopping and modulation techniques enhance
the physical security. Information sent between a mobile station
and the network is encrypted. GSM security is based on a shared
secret key Ki and on a unique number, the International Mobile
Subscriber Identity (IMSI). Both are saved on the user’s
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) and in the Authentication
Centre (AuC) of the operator
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

GSM networks utilize encryption for three

purposes:
• Authentication
• Key generation
• Encryption

The GSM network authenticates the identity of the subscriber

through the use of a challenge-response mechanism. A 128-bit
random number (RAND) is sent to the MS. The MS computes
the 32-bit signed response (SRES) based on the encryption of
the random number (RAND) with the authentication algorithm
(A3) using the individual subscriber authentication key (Ki).

This section focuses on key length as a figure of merit of an

encryption algorithm. Assuming a brute-force search of every
possible key is the most efficient method of cracking an
encrypted message (a big assumption), Table 1 shown below
summarizes how long it would take to decrypt a message with a
given key length, assuming a cracking machine capable of one
million encryptions per second.
• A5 is a stream cipher consisting of three clock controlled
LFSRs of degree 19, 22, and 23.
• The clock control is a threshold function of the middle
bits of each of the three shift registers.
• The sum of the degrees of the three shift registers is 64.
The 64-bit session key is used to initialize the contents
of the shift registers.
• The 22-bit TDMA frame number is fed into the shift
registers.
• Two 114-bit key streams are produced for each TDMA
frame, which are XOR-ed with the uplink and
downlink traffic channels.
• It is rumored that the A5 algorithm has an "effective"
key length of 40 bits.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table  Brute-force key search times for various key sizes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Key length in bits 32 40 56 64 128
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time required to 1.19 hours 12.7 days 2,291 years 584,542 years 10.8 x 10^24
test all possible years
Keys
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONCLUSION:

The security mechanisms specified in the GSM standard make it

the most secure cellular telecommunications system available.
The use of authentication, encryption, and temporary identification
numbers ensures the privacy and anonymity of the system's users,
as well as safeguarding the system against fraudulent use. Even GSM
systems with the A5/2 encryption algorithm, or even with no
encryption are inherently more secure than analog systems due to
their use of speech coding, digital modulation, and TDMA channel access.

we focus on the security of the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) networks.
GSM provides a basic range of security features to ensure adequate protection for both the
operator and customer. Over the lifetime of a system threat and technology change, and so
the security is periodically reviewed and changed. The technical security features must be
properly supported by procedures to ensure complete security. The security provided by
GSM is well in advance of similar mobile radio systems, and should ensure that it remains
at the front of the field for some time to come. GSM is the most commonly used system for
mobile communications. Lack of security and privacy are the major issues of GSM that
need to be addressed. Various encryption techniques exist that aim to make the GSM
system secure and confidential.
FUTURE SCOPE:

The security mechanisms specified in the GSM standard

make it the most secure cellular telecommunications
system available. Types of attacks over the networks
lead the telecommunications companies to provide
different security mechanisms. The use of
authentication, encryption, and temporary identification
number ensure the privacy and anonymity of the
system’s users.
REFERENCES:
• Van der Arend, P. J. C., "Security Aspects and the Implementation in
the GSM System," Proceedings of the Digital Cellular Radio
Conference, Hagen, Westphalia, Germany, October, 1988.
• Biala, J., "Mobilfunk und Intelligente Netze," Friedr., Vieweg & Sohn
Verlagsgesellschaft, 1994.
• Cooke, J.C.; Brewster, R.L., "Cyptographic Security Techniques for
Digital Mobile Telephones," Proceedings of the IEEE International
Conference on Selected Topics in Wireless Communications,
Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1992.
• European Telecommunications Standards Institute,
Recommendation GSM 02.09, "Security Aspects".
• European Telecommunications Standards Institute,
Recommendation GSM 02.17, "Subscriber Identity Module".
• Suraj Srinivas, “The GSM Standard (An overview of its security)”, SANS
Institute
Information Security Reading Room.
• A. Beheshti, Mohsen Toorani, “ Solutions to the GSM Security
Weaknesses”.
• Mandar M. Kulkarni, Prof. A. S. Bhide, Prafull P. Chaudhari, “Encryption
Algorithm Addressing GSM Security Issues”, Department of
Electronics and Communication Engineering, S.S.G.B.C.O.E & T Bhusawal,
Maharashtra, India.