4G Access Network Protection and Compliance Detection Based on Man-in-the-Middle Model

The access network is the most important part of the 4G mobile communication network, connecting user equipment with E-UTRAN Node B. Several mechanisms are designed for the protection of this connection, but the access network still suffers from man-in-the-middle (MITM) problem, which is one of traditional network security threats, causing privacy leak and data tampering. This paper proposes a new protection method against the MITM problem of 4G access network. By analyzing the feature of this problem, we find out the difference between regular connection and MITM connection and use this as a signal of suffering MITM attack. Besides, we discover the potentiality for the MITM model in the 4G access network which can be used to build a compliance detection system in a more privacy-friendly way. Finally, several experiments have been accomplished to verification of the protection method and compliance detection system.