Abstract—The 4th Generation of mobile communications (4G)
has been designed to fulfil strict security requirements. However,
design shortcomings may open the door to threats, casting doubt
on the reliability of the system. Recent publications found critical
vulnerabilities, such as breach of user identity privacy, user
location tracking or inability to guarantee privacy and integrity
of communications, proposing amendments without considering
fully backward compatibility and inflicting further menaces.
This paper intends to give an in-depth insight into this issue,
analysing the latest release of Long Term Evolution (LTEAdvanced)
specifications in order to identify strengths and
deficiencies. An evaluation of the alternative solutions is made,
proposing future research on this matter with diverse approaches
to design an enhanced solution more efficient, respectful with
backward systems and similar traffic load.
Index Terms—4G, EPS, LTE-Advance, LTE Security.