A Detailed Analysis and Optimization of the Modified Polar Decoding RNTI Recovery Method to Track User Activity in 5G Networks

Abstract

In this thesis, we analyze and optimize the modified polar decoding and syndrome matching radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) recovery method to de-anonymize the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in 5G networks. We present the impact on RNTI recovery of payload length, codeword length, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the Hamming and longest common substring (LCS) recovery methods. Further, we consider the full set of RNTIs and downlink control information (DCI) fields that can be examined for user activity data and propose methods to track user activity within radio networks from the recovered data. Finally, we optimize the RNTI recovery method for different attacker scenarios to demonstrate how an attacker can recover RNTIs, track UEs, and aggregate data about the UE usage patterns and/or metadata about the user.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2022
Accession Number
AD1201699

Entities

People

  • Christopher J. Richards

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • 5G Wireless Networks
  • Amplitude Modulation
  • Channel Coding
  • Coding
  • Communication Channels
  • Communication Systems
  • Computer Communications
  • Computer Programming
  • Computers
  • Decoding
  • Demodulation
  • Digital Communications
  • Engineering
  • Internet Of Things
  • Mobile Communications
  • Mobile Phones
  • Modulation
  • Network Protocols
  • Reliability
  • Voice Over Internet Protocol
  • Wireless Communications

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Computer Networking
  • Cybersecurity.
  • Radio communications and signal processing.

Technology Areas

  • 5G
  • 5G - Internet of Things