When a phone is lost or stolen, reporting it to a cellular carrier is supposed to prevent unauthorized use. Michigan State University researchers have found that weaknesses in the reporting system itself could potentially be exploited to block legitimate devices from cellular networks.
The researchers identified six vulnerabilities spanning mobile devices, carrier reporting infrastructure and cross-carrier operations, and demonstrated their security impact through two experimental attacks on operational 4G and 5G networks.
“We found that the security mechanisms that are supposed to protect the lost and stolen phone reporting service are not sufficient,” said Guan-Hua Tu, associate professor in the Michigan State University College of Engineering and one of the study’s authors. “An attacker can potentially abuse these weaknesses to remotely block a device from cellular service, even though the device has not actually been lost, stolen or sold.”