Analysing GSM Insecurity

TL;DR

This paper analyzes GSM security issues by implementing a custom protocol stack on a phone, revealing practical insecurities and their impact on personal and business communications.

Contribution

It provides a practical analysis of GSM insecurity through implementation and conceptual design based on real-world observations and literature review.

Findings

Identification of key GSM security vulnerabilities

Impact of insecurity on personal and business use cases

Proposed conceptual security improvements

Abstract

In the 1990s, GSM emerged as a cutting-edge technology that promised improved services, mobility, security, and increase in the revenues of companies through improved, secure communication for business transactions. The practical experience, however, has shown global subscribers and companies that mere technological excellence of GSM has not resulted in its success. This paper has been carried out to analyse the existing GSM subscriber activities in both personal and business worlds by implementing a customized GSM baseband protocol stack on a phone. The paper encompasses the tasks of analysing the prevailing GSM insecurity, establishing a conceptual design towards the findings revealed in the practical personal and business environments and knowledge gathered from the literature.