VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS OF WI-FI AND LTE NETWORKS FOR SECURE SMARTPHONE DESIGN
Aigul Shaikhanova, R. A. Budenov, O. Sh. Satiev, D. A. Tlepov, Aizhan Tokkuliyeva · Bulletin of Shakarim University Technical Sciences · 2025
This paper presents the results of practical vulnerability analysis of Wi-Fi (WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA3) and LTE wireless networks in the context of designing a secure smartphone. The study was conducted using a set of tools, including Aircrack-ng, Wireshark, YateBTS and software-defined radio BladeRF 2.0, which allowed to study in detail the attack mechanisms and resistance of modern protocols to various types of threats. The experimental part included the development of stands and automated scripts for penetration testing. The analysis showed that the WEP protocol has critical vulnerabilities and can be compromised in just 4 seconds. WPA2 was susceptible to attacks related to authentication packet interception, making man-in-themiddle (MITM) attacks possible. Despite the improvements, WPA3 also shows vulnerability to side-channel attacks such as Dragonblood attacks. LTE, on the other hand, is vulnerable to International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI Catching) and 3G/2G downgrade attacks, allowing attackers to conduct denial of service attacks and intercept traffic. The results underscore the need to abandon outdated standards, improve WPA3 authentication mechanisms and enhance LTE signalling protocols. This paper contributes to improving the security of wireless communications and the design of secure mobile devices.