Cellular Phones and Encryption Essay

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4G LTE Encryption

When cellular phones first came out, the concerns about data loss and theft was not all that high. This was mostly because these devices functioned mostly (if not entirely) as phones with perhaps a camera phone here and there. Nowadays, however, cellular phones are often smartphones and they are literally small computers in terms of the data that they carry and the abilities that they have. Given that and the fact that tablets and other devices have entered the cellular signal fray, it is important to focus on the data security that these data devices have and whether that technology is being used in the way it could or should be and whether improvements are needed. While technology and encryption have come a long way, it is imperative that the envelope is pressed harder and harder every day so as to maintain (or create) privacy and safety for people making use of their technology.

Analysis

The main focus of this brief report will be to describe at least three encryption options that exist when it comes to 4G LTE traffic. While 4G LTE is not going to be the latest and greatest when it comes to cellular traffic, it is the best thing going on right now and any solutions created for 4G LTE can probably be applied to more advanced technologies when they come to pass. As with most things, there are tradeoffs and shortcomings of all technologies. In many to most cases, any gains and upsides to one technology or option are at least partially cancelled out by tradeoffs. Even so, the best overall solution in terms of speed, security and overall vulnerability is the way to go and this report shall explore a few of those options.

One consideration when it comes to cellular technology and the importance of how our devices communicate was laid bare when the earthquake and tsunami rattled Japan simultaneously in recent years. Indeed, people with cellular phones were unable to wield and use them in light of the physical infrastructures relating to cellular phone technology either being damaged or without power due to the storm. Some might wonder aloud what this has to do with encryption. The answer to that question would be the idea that devices should be able to communicate directly with each other even if the prevailing cellular networks are crippled or left in rubble. After all, two laptops or workstations can talk to each other even if the wider Internet is not functional or accessible. Further, these two devices can communicate in a way that is encrypted and secured. The idea being put forward by many is that cellular phones and other devices should be able to do the same thing.

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Just as 4G LTE devices can be standardized and properly equipped in the same way so that they can all access a 4G LTE network, the same thing should apply to the need for these 4G devices to communicate with each other. This concept is not new and is known as device-to-device communication, or D2D for short. Such a technology is fairly new in that it was just coming out in 2014. Even so, the possibilities and benefits of such a system and framework being in place would be immeasurable when it comes to natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and tornados. Simply being able to put out an "I'm OK" message is beyond words when it comes to the calm and benefit that is rendered (Alam, Yang, Rodriguez & Abd-Alhameed, 2014).

The business world and any environment where encrypted data transmission is a must are also things that are easy to find within the 4G realm. One of the stalwart companies that exists out there in terms of data security is RSA. The aforementioned problem with outages due to natural disasters is one of the shortcomings of LTE-A, which is short for LTE-Advance. Another problem that happens is its vulnerability to attacks and breaches by people with ill intentions. However, the solutions offered by RSA and others like them go a long way towards preventing those problems from becoming nightmares. Indeed, RSA and others have proposed or implemented systems that are based on a "novel security scheme." One system that is on the proposed side of the ledger is known as Se4GE. This is short for security system for a 4G environment. This proposed system integrates the information security prowess of RSA and Diffie-Hellman. It is an end-to-end system that uses a cipher-text transfer mechanism and it dynamically changes the encryption keys midstream so as to enforce a strong level of security when it comes to data transmission in a 4G LTE-A system. The system is strong enough that it employs two entirely different encryption/decryption techniques within the same system and for the same computers or smartphones. Early tests that were summarized in 2014 reports on the subject showed that this new Se4GE system was stronger than conventional 4G LTE-A across the board (Huang et al., 2014).

Two more 4G LTE encryption options are covered in an IEEE treatise that was published in mid-2015. Those two options are XOR and Phase Encryption. Indeed, those two methods were being actively compared and contrasted by….....

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