Dit Dit Dah Dit The Evolution of Cellular Networks

The talk walks through the history of cellular networks, starting with telegraphs and landline telephony and moving into the first analog mobile systems such as AMPS and the Nordic mobile telephone network. The speaker explains the core idea behind each generation: whether the network was circuit switched or packet switched, and how new components were layered onto older ones rather than replacing them.

Moving through 2G, GPRS, 3G, LTE and 5G, the talk maps each network's radio access and core components, from base stations and controllers to the home location register, serving gateways and the newer virtualized functions in 5G. For each generation, it lists publicly documented weaknesses. These include missing mutual authentication that enables rogue base stations and IMSI catchers, unencrypted GTP traffic, a malformed packet that knocked a Nokia gateway offline, and downgrade attacks that keep older, weaker protocols reachable.

The closing takeaway is that legacy generations stay in service, so old weaknesses remain relevant even on newer networks. The speaker also points to outside research on exposed core interfaces and router firmware flaws. Listeners leave with a map of which components to examine when studying a given network.