Security News > 2020 > June > Readers of a certain age will remember GPRS: Old insecure tech from turn of millennium still haunts 5G networks

Researchers with Positive Technologies say that a legacy standard known as GPRS Tunneling Protocol is the culprit behind security issues that will leave many of the early 5G networks open to attacks such as spoofing, man-in-the-middle, and denial of service.

Introduced during the earliest upgrades to 2G broadband networks and used through the current 4G standard, GTP allows for data packet transfer between various wireless networks and carriers.

Mobile networks being what they are, the transition to 5G will be incremental and, in the meantime, that means backwards compatibility is needed with 4G and earlier standards, where GTP transmission remains highly vulnerable.

"Most of the issues with GTP protocol relate to roaming networks because operators use a 'friendly' model - which assumes all of the users accessing their networks as legitimate and authorised and that attackers will not appear in their network," Novikov explained.

"The most effective action which can be taken is to ensure they realise this isn't the case and change their approach, putting security protocols in place on their 5G roaming networks when migration occurs." .

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/06/10/5g_gtp_flaws/