Technology
GSM Security Features: The previous analog based systems were very insecure as data sent was not encrypted and any one can break in the conversation. He just needs a receiver to tune in that frequency. But the digital communication system uses encryption techniques to secure its data sent from eavesdroppers. GSM also has its own set of criteria and controls for this purpose. First of all, the operator checks weather the subscriber is authorized to use the network and its services or not. This is called authentication. Any user or subscriber's authentication information is stored in the SIM card provided by the network operator. SIM is Subscriber Identity Module. It is a credit card sized chip & is a microprocessor-based system. It has on board non-volatile memory. The authentication and data encryption is done through some algorithms that are stored in the read only memory of the chip. It is non-volatile type of memory i.e. data will not be lost even power is switched off. Data is said to be burnt off on it. It is used for permanent storage. Therefore subscriber identification, equipment identification and network information is stored here. Other on board memory is random access memory also known as RAM. It is a volatile type of memory and data stored in this is lost as the power is switched off. It is also called primary memory and is used for temporary storage. It is used for storing transmission data temporarily i.e. buffering. Authentication keys for the user and cryptographic algorithms are kept secret and are not revealed to other GSM network operators. A Key setting method is used to protect the user data, which is sent on the radio interface in small packets on a signaling channel. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GSM AND CDMA
|
| Back To Technology Pages |