President Speaking: Spoofing Alerts in 4G LTE Networks (2019) [pdf]

https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10150578

by gammarator • 3 years ago

112 41 3 years ago

par.nsf.gov

talonx• 3 years ago

(PDF)

dang• 3 years ago

Added. Thanks!

(...ach those pdfs...)

ggm2• 3 years ago

Interesting use of the concept of "false alert" -the Hawaii Missile alert was valid, well formed and conformed to protocol in the Layer1 and Layer2 senses. It was a message which was capable of being sent and acted on by software systems.

The problem was, it wasn't initiated through the auspices of the channels which are permitted to approve a message. So, it was "false" in the higher layer senses, not in the actual formal structure, more in the process chains.

Ronald Reagan hot-microphone "I declared war on Russia" as a sound check is a bit more in the "false" space. Or, that txt message Abraham Lincoln sent about trust on the internet.

To me, the falsity begs a layer question. If the lower layers are well formed, the falsity has to lie in the higher layer processes. It was a falsely authorised message. It was sent over the correct channels, injected by the correct endpoints. It just wasn't what had been approved to be sent. (if approved at all) -Thats not "false" thats "unapproved"

The problem is as much with the name, as with the formalisms around sending. If you want this to really be a presidential alert then wire it to some MFA which is bound to the current occupant of the role. If its just that guy getting his guy to call some guy who approves a tech at AT&T sending a message, then it shouldn't have been called a presidential message.

(hats off to the authors of the paper who did some stellar work on spoofing a send event, and show how it would work in a small radius of a transmitter in an event like a football game)

ThePowerOfFuet• 3 years ago

That's not false, that's unapproved.

I get your point, but — it was not true, therefore it was false.

ggm2• 3 years ago

Yea, I'm sniping on the side about language, the core message is "it shouldn't have been sent as-is"

j16sdiz• 3 years ago

not, if you take he law of excluded fourth

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Law_of_excluded...

thakoppno• 3 years ago

My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_begin_bombing_in_five_min...

atoav• 3 years ago

Avoiding such false messages on the human layer is all about interface design and we know how to do that in principle. The problem is just that it isn't done always when it is needed. In case of the Hawaii missle alert there are multiple sources describing the UI as being two similar looking buttons right next to each other: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/15/hawaii-mi...

Just make the actual missle alert button big and red and have users confirm a prompt after clicking.

In Reagans case it is also about the "interface". If footage that leaved the set is not checked, because there is no delay, well then unchecked footage goes out.

w1nst0nsm1th• 3 years ago

Or, that txt message Abraham Lincoln sent about trust on the internet.

Abraham Lincon is still alive ?

wizerdrobe• 3 years ago

Yes, I am.

Or if you’re asking in earnest there’s a meme of the format:

“You can’t trust quotes on the internet - Abraham Lincoln” - the joke being Lincoln couldn’t have written the joke for the internet was not yet invented at the time of his passing.

https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1952141-abraham-lincoln

waterproof• 3 years ago

Fixing this problem will require a large collaborative effort between carriers, government stakeholders, and cell phone manufacturers.

Do we know if any of this has been patched since the paper in 2019? One could hope…

ticoombs• 3 years ago

HA!

In a serious note, this will most likely never be patched. SS7 vulnerabilities have been know for even longer but the sheer effort needed to collaborate between every single company, manufacturer and policy makers make it a non starter.

Also having the possibility of making it so all old phones no longer get these messages could also be an accessibility problem that gets whomever tries to run with it kicked out of office.

With current climates being 3/4 years max in office with the possibility the next person will scrap whatever you do... makes it a hard problem to solve.

vlovich1232• 3 years ago

You could build a more secure version and mandate it’s the only one used for new devices / in all future SW updates for phones.

Over time it would supplant the old one and the vast majority of people would get the secure alert today.

During an emergency you’d send both but spoofs would only be able to hit old phones that don’t receive software updates / don’t support the secure variant.

Securing is also pretty simple since the government could just publish the public key they’ll use for signing these alerts and OS vendors could refresh that key on a regular basis.

callalex• 3 years ago

(Context: today there was rare a pre-scheduled test of the emergency broadcast system that buzzed every phone and radio in the entire United States. It seems to have generally been successful, and it’s genuinely amazing to think about the sheer scale and reach of this system.)

INTPenis2• 3 years ago

What weird timing because I just got my first ever "Presidential alert" in Croatia because a plastics factory was burning south of my city. Luckily there was a northernly wind all day.

genericacct• 3 years ago

Same here in italy, they're testing the alert system. Only my huawei called it "presidential" though, the xiaomis just called it an alert.

However i am assuming that the european alert standard is based on an earlier protocol than LTE, does anyone have any info?

rascul6• 3 years ago

that buzzed every phone and radio in the entire United States

Unless you turned that crap off.

M95D• 3 years ago

It can't be turned off.

Faaak• 3 years ago

By curiosity, why do you say it is crap ?

mcpackieh3• 3 years ago

It seems to have generally been successful

I guess so, but myself and roughly half the people I've talked to got the audible alert in Spanish but not in English. This doesn't seem quite successful to me, but where do I send my feedback?

z991• 3 years ago

Summary: https://pdf2gpt.com/?summary=3ade1d183ee74c0aa8fff901e892dc5...

aftbit• 3 years ago

Why on earth are these messages not signed with a key that is distributed to the phones by the carriers?

supertrope• 3 years ago

Key management is challenging when scaled to an entire nation. Also the trust model in broadcasting is not end to end. On cellular networks especially before 4G the phones trust the network implicitly.

President Speaking: Spoofing Alerts in 4G LTE Networks (2019) [pdf]

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