Safeguarding Next-Generation Emergency Services (NG-9-1-1) over Cellular Networks

Principal Investigator: Chunyi Peng

The next-generation 9-1-1 (NG-9-1-1) services are IP-based systems that supports all types of emergency communications, e.g., voice, video, and text. The globally deployed 5G/4G cellular networks with ubiquitous coverage are the most accessible vehicles for emergency services. However, the security of IP-based cellular emergency services is still largely unexplored. Since 911 services are critical to our society, it is extremely important to eliminate potential vulnerabilities and ensure their security. This project aims to safeguard NG-9-1-1 services over cellular networks from their designs to operations. The project's novelties are to systematically uncover insecure design defects, operational slips, and implementation flaws of cellular emergency services while ensuring sustainable security through a multi-disciplinary approach. The project's broader significance and importance are to extend the state-of-the-art emergency service security research to a new frontier by exploring novel methods that can help perform innovative emergency service modeling, vulnerability analysis, data collection/mining, and testing automation solutions. The project also aims to contribute to nation's future workforce by training students in critical areas such as network security, wireless and mobile systems, and machine learning.

Personnel

Other PIs: Guan-Hua Tu (Michigan State University)

Students: Shaan Shekhar

Representative Publications

• 1. Uncovering Insecure Designs of Cellular Emergency Services (911), Yiwen Hu, Min-Yue Chen, Guan-Hua Tu, Chi-Yu Li, Sihan Wang, Jingwen Shi, Tian Xie, Li Xiao, Chunyi Peng, Zhaowei Tan, Songwu Lu, MobiCom’22, Oct 2022. (Best Community Paper Award Runner-up)

• Chen MY, Hu Y, Tu GH, Li CY, Wang S, Shi J, Xie T, Hsu RC, Xiao L, Peng C, Tan Z. Taming the Insecurity of Cellular Emergency Services (9-1-1): From Vulnerabilities to Secure Designs. IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. 2024 Mar 26.

• Hu Y, Chen MY, Tu GH, Li CY, Wang S, Shi J, Xie T, Xiao L, Peng C, Tan Z, Lu S. Unveiling the Insecurity of Operational Cellular Emergency Services (911): Vulnerabilities, Attacks, and Countermeasures. GetMobile: Mobile Computing and Communications. 2023 May 22;27(1):39-43.

Keywords: 911 security, cellular network