TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploiting channel fragmentation and aggregation/bonding to create security vulnerabilities
AU - Anand, Santhanakrishnan
AU - Sengupta, Shamik
AU - Hong, Kai
AU - Subbalakshmi, K. P.
AU - Chandramouli, R.
AU - Cam, Hasan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 IEEE.
PY - 2014/10/1
Y1 - 2014/10/1
N2 - We address a unique security vulnerability due to spectrum fragmentation, aggregation, and bonding in IEEE 802.22-based dynamic spectrum access (DSA) networks and in Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and Evolved High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) networks. Typically, channel fragmentation, aggregation, and bonding have been perceived as a means of enhancing the bandwidth and throughput for the users. However, this could also result in losing orthogonality between the bonded or fragmented spectrum bands. We show this leads to a security vulnerability that can be exploited by an attacker to cause service disruptions. We present an analysis of two types of attacks, i.e., the MAXimum IMPact (MAXIMP) attack, wherein the attackers try to cause maximum service disruptions by transmitting at maximum power, and the MINPOW attack, wherein the attackers transmit at minimum power just to create a targeted level of service disruption. Results indicate that, although the MAXIMP attack can cause up to about 16% loss in the capacity of the system, the MINimum POWer (MINPOW) attack, which is more difficult to detect than the MAXIMP attack, can cause 11%-15% loss in throughput.
AB - We address a unique security vulnerability due to spectrum fragmentation, aggregation, and bonding in IEEE 802.22-based dynamic spectrum access (DSA) networks and in Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and Evolved High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) networks. Typically, channel fragmentation, aggregation, and bonding have been perceived as a means of enhancing the bandwidth and throughput for the users. However, this could also result in losing orthogonality between the bonded or fragmented spectrum bands. We show this leads to a security vulnerability that can be exploited by an attacker to cause service disruptions. We present an analysis of two types of attacks, i.e., the MAXimum IMPact (MAXIMP) attack, wherein the attackers try to cause maximum service disruptions by transmitting at maximum power, and the MINPOW attack, wherein the attackers transmit at minimum power just to create a targeted level of service disruption. Results indicate that, although the MAXIMP attack can cause up to about 16% loss in the capacity of the system, the MINimum POWer (MINPOW) attack, which is more difficult to detect than the MAXIMP attack, can cause 11%-15% loss in throughput.
KW - Aggregation/bonding
KW - channel fragmentation
KW - service disruption
KW - vulnerability
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U2 - 10.1109/TVT.2014.2309115
DO - 10.1109/TVT.2014.2309115
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84908139103
SN - 0018-9545
VL - 63
SP - 3867
EP - 3874
JO - IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology
JF - IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology
IS - 8
M1 - 6750766
ER -