An Approach to full User Data Integrity Protection in UMTS Access Networks

During development of the UMTS security standard, 3GPP had to take various constraining aspects, like bandwidth and limited hardware, into account, so there were compromises made in security. One such compromise is the absence of a full userdata integrity protection mechanism. In this paper an approach is made to a full user data integrity protection mechanism in the UMTS access network. The current integrity threats and existing solutions are examined for both typical networks as well as for the UMTS standard. The abovementioned solutions are compared on their relevant characteristics (security level and performance). With the requirements of UMTS networking in mind, the most suitable solution is selected and the consequences for performance and security in the UMTS access network are assessed.