The rise of the internet of things, which is likely to mean billions of devices are connected to LTE has security fallibilities that need to be quickly addressed.
That’s according Dr Martin Nuss, chief technical officer of Vitesse Semi, speaking to an audience at 4G World.
Nuss said that small cells are an integral part of LTE, LTE-A deployments and Carrier Heterogenous Networks. Their accessibility makes them easy to hack, he said.
Even though LTE networks are far more secure than wi-fi hotspots, but small cell based stations using LTE and located at street level is a new security risk.
Small cell backhauls are also likely to happen over third party access provider networks that don’t have the same standards as wireless operators.
Nuss also warned of timing security. Small cell susceptibility t GPS jamming and spoofing is another problem.
By 2018, he said, small cells will be everywhere and so implementing them is a matter of careful network planning and awareness of the risks.
