A Strong Smartphone Authentication Approach to Control Cellular Network Access

Abstract

Due to the development of the mobile devices industry which made them comparable to desktop computers in terms of data processing, capacity and support for multiple applications. Demand for these devices rose, with smartphone subscriptions reaching 7.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to Ericsson statistic [5]. On the other hand, the rate of device theft increased. According to Deutsche Telekom, every day, around 600 smartphones are stolen in Germany [29], and more than 1.4 million devices annually in the United States [120]. There is, therefore, an urgent need to harness efforts for providing a solution to reduce the theft of mobiles that may be associated with other serious crimes. Accordingly, this research introduces a new model for restricting stolen mobile devices access to the cellular network. It is based on three proposed protocols to enforce strong smartphone authentication. To pass the authentication phase, a smartphone must provide a valid identity which consists of its IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) and its fingerprint (Data collected from smartphone sensors). Also, the smartphone must be owned by a legitimate user. Moreover, Blockchain, Smart Contracts and ICMetric technologies are used to construct the proposed protocols. This model will help in preventing anonymous or stolen devices from benefiting from the cellular network services, which is expected to reduce the rate of smartphones theft.