A new authentication protocol for roaming users in GSM networks

Communicating while we are moving has been a desire for a long time. With mobile communication systems, mobile users can make and receive calls while they are moving independent of time, location and network access. One of the most attractive features that came with the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) is roaming. Wireless systems are more vulnerable to fraudulent access and eavesdropping. As a remedy for that, GSM gives more importance to the user´s privacy and authentication process. Although the process gives a reasonable security level, it overloads the network with significant signaling traffic and increases the call set-up time. The signaling load and the authentication delay are of particular importance and have become the subject of widespread research interest. In this paper, we study and analyze the GSM authentication protocols for roaming users, and propose a new scheme with less signaling traffic and better call set-up time