The Diameter protocol used with today’s 4G (LTE) telephony and data transfer standard is vulnerable to the same types of security flaws as the older SS7 standard used with 3G, 2G, and earlier according to researchers at Positive Technologies and the European Union Agency For Network and Information Security. Sean Newman, Director of Product Management at Corero Network Security commented below.
Sean Newman, Director of Product Management at Corero Network Security:
“As society continues to leverage mobile data capabilities more and more heavily, from individual users performing more tasks directly on their smartphones, to IoT devices which use it when regular network connections are not available, or not possible, service providers need to take the security of this important communications channel more seriously. Reports of critical security capabilities not being enabled in the Diameter protocol used for 4G, and soon also with 5G, mobile networks are concerning. This is especially alarming when it could result in denial of service attacks for critical infrastructure relying on mobile access, without even needing to harness any large-scale distributed attack capabilities. The latest generation of denial of service protection solutions are critical for any organisation with relies on always-on internet availability but, this can only be effective if service providers are ensuring the connectivity itself is always-on.”
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