Radio access technology based security in service provider networks

• US 10,693,918 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2017
• Issued: 06/23/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palo Alto Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Verma, Sachin, Burakovsky, Leonid, Shu, Jesse C., Chen, I-Chun
• Primary Examiner(s): Abedin, Shanto
• Application Number:
  US15/624,442
• Publication Number:
  US 20180367578A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1425 Traffic logging, e.g. anomaly detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/205 involving negotiation or determination of the one or more network security mechanisms to be used, e.g. by negotiation between the client and the server or between peers or by selection according to the capabilities of the entities involved negotiation of communication capabilities H04L69/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/088 using filters or firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/128 Anti-malware arrangements, e.g. protection against SMS fraud or mobile malware
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

Techniques for radio access technology based security in service provider networks (e.g., service provider networks for mobile subscribers) are disclosed. In some embodiments, a system/process/computer program product for radio access technology based security in service provider networks includes monitoring network traffic on a service provider network at a security platform to identify a Radio Access Technology (RAT) type for a new session; associating the RAT type with the new session at the security platform; and determining a security policy to apply at the security platform to the new session based on the RAT type.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to;

monitor network traffic on a service provider network at a security platform to identify a Radio Access Technology (RAT) type for a new session wherein the security platform monitors wireless interfaces including a plurality of interfaces for a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) in a mobile core network for a 3G and/or 4G network, or a control protocol and user data traffic in a mobile core network for a 3G and/or 4G network, and wherein the monitoring of the network traffic comprises to;

identify a create session request message or a create PDP context request message from the network traffic; and

extract location from the create session request message or the create PDP context request message, the location including one or more of the following;

CGI (Cell Global Identifier), SAI (Service Area Identifier), RAI (Routing Area Identifier), TAI (Tracking Area Identifier), ECGI (E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifier), or LAC (Location Area Identifier);

associate the RAT type with the new session at the security platform, wherein the RAT type includes 3G, 4G, 5G, or any combination thereof;

determine an application identifier for user traffic associated with the new session at the security platform, comprising to;

monitor, via deep packet inspection, tunneled user traffic after the new session has been created to obtain the application identifier, wherein the application identifier relates to web browsing using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a Domain Name System (DNS) request, a file transfer using File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Telnet, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP), or any combination thereof, and wherein the tunneled user traffic includes GPRS Tunneling Protocol User Plane (GTP-U) traffic;

determine a security policy to apply at the security platform to the new session based on the application identifier, the location, and the RAT type, wherein the security policy includes allowing or passing the new session, blocking or dropping the new session, or restricting access of the new session; and

perform threat detection and/or threat prevention based on the security policy; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

2. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the security platform is configured with a plurality of security policies based on the RAT type.

3. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the security platform is configured to perform security policy enforcement based on the RAT type.

4. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the security platform is configured to perform Uniform Resource Link (URL) filtering based on the RAT type.

5. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the security platform is configured with a plurality of security policies based on the RAT type, and wherein the RAT type is selected from one or more of the following:

UTRAN, GERAN, WLAN, GAN, HSPA Evolution, EUTRAN (WB-E-UTRAN), Virtual, and EUTRAN-NB-IoT.

6. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

block the new session from accessing a resource based on the security policy.

7. A method, comprising:

monitoring network traffic on a service provider network at a security platform to identify a Radio Access Technology (RAT) type for a new session wherein the security platform monitors wireless interfaces including a plurality of interfaces for a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) in a mobile core network for a 3G and/or 4G network, or a control protocol and user data traffic in a mobile core network for a 3G and/or 4G network, and wherein the monitoring of the network traffic comprises;

identifying a create session request message or a create PDP context request message from the network traffic; and

extracting location from the create session request message or the create PDP context request message, the location including one or more of the following;

CGI (Cell Global Identifier), SAI (Service Area Identifier), RAI (Routing Area Identifier), TAI (Tracking Area Identifier), ECGI (E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifier), or LAC (Location Area Identifier);

associating the RAT type with the new session at the security platform, wherein the RAT type includes 3G, 4G, 5G, or any combination thereof;

determining an application identifier for user traffic associated with the new session at the security platform, comprising;

monitoring, via deep packet inspection, tunneled user traffic after the new session has been created to obtain the application identifier, wherein the application identifier relates to web browsing using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a Domain Name System (DNS) request, a file transfer using File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Telnet, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP), or any combination thereof, and wherein the tunneled user traffic includes GPRS Tunneling Protocol User Plane (GTP-U) traffic;

determining a security policy to apply at the security platform to the new session based on the application identifier, the location, and the RAT type, wherein the security policy includes allowing or passing the new session, blocking or dropping the new session, or restricting access of the new session; and

performing threat detection and/or threat prevention based on the security policy.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the security platform is configured with a plurality of security policies based on the RAT type.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the security platform is configured to perform security policy enforcement based on the RAT type.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the security platform is configured to perform Uniform Resource Link (URL) filtering based on the RAT type.

11. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

monitoring network traffic on a service provider network at a security platform to identify a Radio Access Technology (RAT) type for a new session, wherein the security platform monitors wireless interfaces including a plurality of interfaces for a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) in a mobile core network for a 3G and/or 4G network, or a control protocol and user data traffic in a mobile core network for a 3G and/or 4G network, and wherein the monitoring of the network traffic comprises;

identifying a create session request message or a create PDP context request message from the network traffic; and

extracting location from the create session request message or the create PDP context request message, the location including one or more of the following;

CGI (Cell Global Identifier), SAI (Service Area Identifier), RAI (Routing Area Identifier), TAI (Tracking Area Identifier), ECGI (E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifier), or LAC (Location Area Identifier);

associating the RAT type with the new session at the security platform, wherein the RAT type includes 3G, 4G, 5G, or any combination thereof;

determining an application identifier for user traffic associated with the new session at the security platform, comprising;

monitoring, via deep packet inspection, tunneled user traffic after the new session has been created to obtain the application identifier, wherein the application identifier relates to web browsing using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a Domain Name System (DNS) request, a file transfer using File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Telnet, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP), or any combination thereof, and wherein the tunneled user traffic includes GPRS Tunneling Protocol User Plane (GTP-U) traffic;

determining a security policy to apply at the security platform to the new session based on the application identifier, the location, and the RAT type, wherein the security policy includes allowing or passing the new session, blocking or dropping the new session, or restricting access of the new session; and

performing threat detection and/or threat prevention based on the security policy.

12. The computer program product recited in claim 11, wherein the security platform is configured with a plurality of security policies based on the RAT type.

13. The computer program product recited in claim 11, wherein the security platform is configured to perform security policy enforcement based on the RAT type.

14. The computer program product recited in claim 11, wherein the security platform is configured to perform Uniform Resource Link (URL) filtering based on the RAT type.