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What can be done against MITM attacks from cell towers?
VPNs create a secure and encrypted channel for data that is transmitted over the internet from a device or a network. Used for many years, VPNs for remote workers act as protected pipelines for all data that passes through them, making them highly effective against MiTM attacks.
What does IMSI stand for?
International Mobile Subscriber Identity
Unique number of up to 15 digits assigned to each GSM connection, containing country code, network operator code and mobile device number.
How are IMSI catchers supposed to catch IMSIs?
Classic “IMSI-catchers” simply record nearby IMSIs, and then don’t interact with their target phones in a significant way beyond that. They quite literally “catch” (i.e. record) IMSIs by pretending to be real base stations and then release the target phones (Paget, 2010).
What’s the difference between IMSI-catcher and cell site simulator?
Adding to the confusion is the fact that the term “IMSI-catcher” is both used interchangeably with “cell site simulator” and also refers to specific capabilities that some CSSs have. A very important distinction when talking about CSSs is which cell network generations they use when operating.
How does a CSS collect an IMSI from a phone?
After receiving your IMSI, the CSS then releases your phone back to the real network and moves on to try and capture another phone’s IMSI. That’s all it takes to collect an IMSI from a nearby phone! The CSS sends an Identity Request to collect the target mobile phone’s IMSI. Afterwards, it proceeds to repeat this same action with other phones.
How does a machine in the middle attack work?
The CSS must be able to situate itself between the phone and the tower to be able to do so, which is what’s usually referred to as a “machine in the middle” (MitM) attack. There are two main steps to completing the MitM: Spoofing authentication: the CSS needs to convince the network that it’s actually the targeted mobile phone. (Section 3.2.1)