TMSI Allocation Mechanism Using a Secure VLR Authorization in the GSM System

Abstract

Abstract. GSM is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. In spite of the tremendous market growth, however, the GSM system has the fatal security problems in TMSI allocation protocol. These problems are right user authentication and location privacy. In this paper, we propose the secure TMSI allocation mechanism using the certification concept to solve these problems. The proposed mechanism provides partial anonymity, which has been rarely provided in the other approaches. Also we propose the modified mechanism to reduce TMSI allocation procedure without changing of the architecture of the original GSM system.