Relaxing Trust Requirements in 3GPP Mobile Systems for Improved Subscriber Identity Privacy

Evolution in Cellular networks has observed through various generations, starting with 1G, followed by 2G and then by 3G, cellular networks have come a long way. A recent technology that has marked the beginning of 4G is Long Term Evolution (LTE). While transmission technologies, authentication mechanisms, confidentiality protection, etc., improved significantly through the generations, not much has improved with regards to the subscriber’s identity privacy, and LTE is no exception. Much of this could be due to the trust model adopted in these networks.