4G and CDMA reportedly broken at DEFCON

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Ron2K
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4G and CDMA reportedly broken at DEFCON

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ExtremeTech wrote:At the DEF CON 19 hacking conference, which took place between August 4 and 7, it seems that a full man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack was successfully launched against all 4G and CDMA transmissions in and around the venue, the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. This MITM attack enabled hackers to gain permanent kernel-level root access in some Android and PC devices using a rootkit, and non-persistent user space access in others. In both cases, whoever launched this attack on CDMA and 4G devices was able to steal data and monitor conversations.

For now the only evidence that such an attack occurred is the report of Coderman on the Full Disclosure mailing list. Coderman seems to be a relative veteran of security and open source mailing lists, though, and he says he has attended six DEF CONs. If he’s telling the truth, then this attack would represent the first ever man-in-the-middle attacks on two networks that have so far proven to be unhackable. For the ailing and nigh-stillborn CDMA this isn’t such a huge issue — but if 4G has fallen, just as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and cellular companies around the world begin to plow huge dollars into its roll out, this could be a massive blow.
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PureFire
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Re: 4G and CDMA reportedly broken at DEFCON

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Not a problem, there is no true 4G network yet.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/columns/1 ... terms.html

Now if only i could find the article i read about the true def of 4g...
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Re: 4G and CDMA reportedly broken at DEFCON

Post by Ron2K »

^^ There is no true 4G network in South Africa yet. It's quite possible that it's an entirely different story over in the States.
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PureFire
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Re: 4G and CDMA reportedly broken at DEFCON

Post by PureFire »

Nope, i cannot find the true definition of 4g anymore, it was in a release from the ITU.

True 4g networks dont exist ANYWHERE in the world as yet.
And they dont say what they broke... there are at least 3 types of 3.9G Networks in the states...


Ha, found it...
I knew it was on mybroadband.,

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/ ... is-4g.html
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5762913_diffe ... g-4g_.html

And from the ITU themselves:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/imt-2000/Revis ... item3.html

ITU statement

Most sources related to the various generations (G) of cellular wireless standards state that HSPA is 3.5G, HSPA+ is 3.75G while LTE is classified as 3.9G.

However, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) put the cat among the pigeons in December 2010 when they released a press statement regarding the 4G issue.

“Following a detailed evaluation against stringent technical and operational criteria, ITU has determined that ‘LTE-Advanced’ and ‘WirelessMAN-Advanced’ should be accorded the official designation of IMT-Advanced,” the ITU said.

“As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as ‘4G’, although it is recognized that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed.”

This statement made many people believe that the ITU now sees LTE, WiMax and evolved 3G technologies like HSPA+ as 4G. In reality, this does not seem to be the case.

Sanjay AcharyaITU spokesperson Sanjay Acharya told MyBroadband that the ITU sees IMT-Advanced as 4G.

“Since 2000, IMT-2000 has been widely deployed and referred to as 3G. ITU has now announced the next-generation of standards for global wireless broadband communications, known as IMT-Advanced,” said Acharya.

Acharya added that the ITU has determined that “LTE-Advanced” and “WirelessMAN-Advanced” should be accorded the official designation of IMT-Advanced, and hence 4G. The detailed specifications of these IMT-Advanced technologies will be provided in a new ITU-R Recommendation expected in early 2012.

But what about the December 2010 ITU statement?

Acharya explains that the term 4G remains undefined, but noted that it is being applied by operators to the forerunners of IMT-Advanced technologies such as HSPA+, LTE, and WiMax, which provide a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed.

It is understood that the ITU therefore does not officially endorse the use of the term 4G in relation to HSPA+, WiMax or LTE, but rather just stated that the term is used by various operators to indicate that their networks offer a significant improvement over traditional 3G networks.




Back to what was broken...
the algorithm used for networks is so encrypted, that they managed to "break it" is scary.
I recall 3G being broken at one time too, or at least, hacked into.
As LTE, HSPA+ and WiMax are just evolutions of 3G, they probably broke it the same way...
But like i say, they havent said WHICH "4G" (sic - read 3.9G instead) network was broken!!!
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