LTE Brings Myriad Security Concerns

The good news about LTE is that it's an all-IP network, which mean it's as high-speed and robust as broadband. The bad news is that it's an all-IP network, which means it's exposed to both the threats of a broadband network and those unique to mobile.

In fact, in a recent Light Reading poll, our community members had a hard time agreeing on just one mobile security concern for LTE. When asked, just over 20 percent said that criminals stealing sensitive customer information was their biggest security concern on LTE, but that was followed closely by 17.5 percent who were concerned about attackers triggering network outages and degradations and 16.5 percent who said that insecure mobile operating systems and apps were their biggest concern.

Another 14.6 percent were worried about human error -- customers unknowingly downloading malware that can affect the network. But, most people trusted the established protocols, with only 9 percent suggesting they could have vulnerabilities.

Taking out those 18.9 percent of people who didn't know what the biggest mobile security concern for LTE was, as well as those 2.8 percent that voted "other," here's a snapshot of how the rest voted:

Figure 1:

We will be holding our next live chat on this very topic on Thursday, November 14, at 11:00 a.m. EST/8:00 a.m. PST with Heavy Reading senior analyst Patrick Donegan, who will also be leading Light Reading's Mobile Network Security Strategies conference next month in NYC. We'll be discussing important issues like how real each of these threats are, what operators can do about them, and what they mean for end users.

You can join the chat on Thursday, right here on our Live Chat Message Boards.

Be sure to join us for both events and bring your questions on LTE security. In the meantime, brush up on the mobile security market with our extensive coverage below. Hope to see you there.

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— Sarah Reedy, Senior Editor, Light Reading