A DIAMETER based security framework for mobile networks

After several decades of circuit switched technology, mobile telephony is moving towards all-IP network architecture. The convergence to IP, on a one hand, brings many advantages, but makes mobile networks easier to be attacked. In this paper, a security framework is discussed addressing two security challenges: DIAMETER-related threats and subscriber malicious activities. The former is taken into account as the fast growing of DIAMETER in the evolving 4G mobile networks. The latter can be mitigated by analyzing DIAMETER signaling traffic and applying appropriate techniques to them. The framework being investigated is flexible and some of the developed components are already open source and being used by the DIAMETER community.