Femtocells: Opportunities and Challenges for Business and Technology

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Femtocell Security

Rasa Siegberg

7.1 Why is Security Important?

Assessing the importance and motivation for providing security in a new telecommunications paradigm, such as the femtocell system, can be approached from two rather distinct vantage points: those of continuity and those of contained change.

7.1.1 Viewpoint: Continuity

The continuity vantage point is really the point of view of the service-enjoying end-user – the Jill or Joe to whom the femtocell system provides indoor coverage, better cellular data rates and the possibility to enjoy the value-added services the carrier chooses to provide. While the innards of the mobile network change and evolve, new access technologies are phased in and out, and the phones themselves change, there is – and must be – a single continuation of trust shared between Jill or Joe and their mobile network operator. This trust is in part created by the uncompromising level of security the mobile network operator provides – regardless of the employed technologies or network architectures. The end-customers of a successful mobile network operator will always take for granted that their communications are safe from illegitimate wiretapping or other forms of compromise. Security in this respect is then:

• The privacy of communication: neither calls nor data can be illegally eavesdropped upon.
• The integrity of data transferred: voice and data services provide adequate levels of service to carry messages to their destination without modification ...