Cell Handover Integrity Protection Against False Base Stations
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Solution Overview
Problem
In mobile networks, terminal devices can be mistakenly handed over to false access network devices, leading to denial of service attacks, tampering, or forgery of communication, as these devices mimic genuine base stations, causing security issues.
Innovation Solution
A cell handover method that involves integrity protection of RRC reconfiguration messages and secondary signal measurements to differentiate between genuine and false access network devices, allowing terminal devices to determine the authenticity of signal quality and prevent handovers to malicious nodes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the terminal device performs measurement reporting to the source network device, then the source network device can make handover decisions, but the terminal device may be handed over to a false access network device due to spoofed signal quality
Solution Approach 1:
The source network device performs preliminary verification of the target cell's synchronization signal before generating the handover command. This preliminary action ensures that the target cell is genuine before the terminal device executes handover, preventing handover to false access network devices. The verification is done in advance by the network side, so the terminal device does not need to perform complex verification itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The source network device acts as an intermediary that verifies the authenticity of the target access network device before allowing handover. The source network device checks the synchronization signal from the target cell, and only if verification succeeds does it include the target cell's information in the handover command. This intermediary verification mechanism protects the terminal device from being redirected to false access network devices.
2Reliability
If the terminal device performs secondary measurement to verify signal quality, then handover security improves, but handover delay increases due to additional signaling overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The source network device performs the verification of target cell authenticity on its own without requiring the terminal device to perform additional measurements or reporting. The source network device independently verifies the synchronization signal from the target cell and makes the handover decision based on this verification. This self-service approach eliminates the need for terminal device involvement in verification, thus avoiding additional handover delay and signaling overhead.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional terminal-device-centric measurement and reporting mechanism with a network-side verification mechanism. Instead of the terminal device performing measurements and reporting results through multiple signaling exchanges, the source network device directly verifies the target cell's synchronization signal and makes the handover decision. This substitution of the verification mechanism eliminates the need for additional terminal device measurements and reporting, reducing handover delay.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the source network device verifies target cell synchronization signal, then false access network devices are blocked, but the verification process adds complexity to the handover procedure
Solution Approach 1:
The source network device performs verification of the target cell's synchronization signal as a preliminary step before generating the handover command. This preliminary verification ensures that only genuine target cells are selected for handover, blocking false access network devices from compromising terminal security. The verification is integrated into the handover preparation process, so it does not significantly increase overall procedure complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The source network device serves as an intermediary that performs verification between the terminal device and the target access network device. The source network device receives the synchronization signal from the target cell, verifies its authenticity, and based on this verification, decides whether to include the target cell in the handover command. This intermediary role centralizes the verification complexity at the network side, protecting the terminal device from complexity while ensuring security.
Data Source
AI summary
When triggering a handover request, a source network device requests a measurement indication from a target access network device using the handover request, where the measurement indication indicates the terminal device to measure a channel state of a target cell. In this way, the source network device sends the measurement indication to the terminal device using an RRC reconfiguration message. Then, the terminal device measures the specified channel state of the target cell based on the measurement indication, to obtain a measurement result, and then determines, depending on whether the measurement result meets a handover condition, whether to perform cell handover.