APPARATUS, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT PROVIDING UNIFIED REACTIVE AND PROACTIVE HANDOVERS

摘要

Apparatus, methods and computer program products incorporate improvements that provide enhanced security during handovers in a cellular wireless communications network. In one aspect, user equipment performs additional operations during handover to improve security. During such operations, user equipment begins key generation based on a predicted target base station before it is notified of the handover decision. User equipment also signs certain communications generated during handover operations to prevent hijacked base stations from generating false location updates. Separate keys are used to authenticate communications made by base stations during handover proceedings defeating, for example, logical theft of service attacks since a target base station's signature and encrypted content is required to be sent to the user equipment before the user equipment can switch to the target base station. In other aspects, user equipment assigns location updates sequence numbers and the active gateway keeps track of them defeating attacks based on replay of intercepted location update messages.