An AI-Enabled Framework to Defend Ingenious MDT-based Attacks on the Emerging Zero Touch Cellular Networks
Aneeqa Ijaz, Waseem Raza, Hasan Farooq, Marvin Manalastas, Ali Imran

TL;DR
This paper identifies security vulnerabilities in zero touch cellular networks caused by malicious MDT reports from compromised devices, and proposes a machine learning-based detection framework to enhance network resilience.
Contribution
It introduces the first adversarial attack on MDT reports in zero touch networks and develops a novel ML-based detection framework to counteract this threat.
Findings
The attack significantly impacts network automation functions.
The proposed MRIF effectively detects malicious MDT reports.
The framework enhances the robustness of zero touch SON systems.
Abstract
Deep automation provided by self-organizing network (SON) features and their emerging variants such as zero touch automation solutions is a key enabler for increasingly dense wireless networks and pervasive Internet of Things (IoT). To realize their objectives, most automation functionalities rely on the Minimization of Drive Test (MDT) reports. The MDT reports are used to generate inferences about network state and performance, thus dynamically change network parameters accordingly. However, the collection of MDT reports from commodity user devices, particularly low cost IoT devices, make them a vulnerable entry point to launch an adversarial attack on emerging deeply automated wireless networks. This adds a new dimension to the security threats in the IoT and cellular networks. Existing literature on IoT, SON, or zero touch automation does not address this important problem. In this…
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Taxonomy
TopicsNetwork Security and Intrusion Detection · Advanced Malware Detection Techniques · Smart Grid Security and Resilience
