Security Vulnerability due to Channel Aggregation/Bonding in LTE and HSPA+ Networks

We address a unique security vulnerability in long term evolution (LTE) advanced and high speed packet access (HSPA+) wireless networks due to carrier/channel bonding. This vulnerability is shown to result in various amounts of service disruption based on the radio network parameters and the user locations. Typically, channel bonding have been perceived as a means to enhance the bandwidth and throughput for the users. However, this could also result in the loss of orthogonality between the bonded spectrum bands. We show that this leads to a security vulnerability that can be exploited by an attacker to cause service disruption. In this case, the attacker need not even operate in the same bands as the user, to be effective. We present an analysis to compare the loss in throughput caused by the vulnerability due to channel bonding in advanced LTE and HSPA+ networks. Results indicate that channel bonding is susceptible to about 70% loss of throughput in LTE networks and about 11-15% in HSPA+ networks compared to systems with no bonding. Also, users farther away from the base station suffer larger throughput degradation due to channel bonding in LTE networks, while it causes larger degradation in throughput for near users in HSPA+ networks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to identify and analyze a significant security vulnerability in LTE and HSPA+ networks. Index Terms – Advanced LTE Networks, HSPA+, Carrier Aggregation, Bonding, Service Disruption.