An anti-cloning framework for software defined radio mobile devices

Abstract

The superior reconfigurability of software defined radio mobile devices has made it the most promising technology on the wireless network and in the communication industry. Despite several advantages, there is still a lot to discuss regarding security. One of the more dangerous threats in SDR wireless communication is cloning. Besides illegal billing, cloned units increase the competition of shared resources, the network congestion and degrade network services. In this paper, an anti-cloning framework for software defined radio mobile devices is proposed. In the framework, the SDR mobile device together with the wireless operator is responsible for detecting if it has been cloned or not. Another key point is that the framework is independent of the wireless communication technology, working well for different cellular technologies and the Internet. New pieces of hardware and new protocols are specified to avoid network services being used by cloned units. Proofs that analyze correctness of the protocols and the framework are also presented.