SPARROW: A Novel Covert Communication Scheme Exploiting Broadcast Signals in LTE, 5G & Beyond

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Presented at DEF CON 29 by

Reza Mcauley

When researching methods for covert communications in the wireless space, we noticed most hackers are barely looking below the IP layer, and even the wireless guys are focused on creating their own radio (PHY layer) solutions rather than looking at what’s already available to them. We discovered a sweet spot that takes advantage of MAC layer protocols in LTE and 5G, enabling long range communication using other people’s networks, GSMA CVD-2021-0045. We can use SPARROW devices almost everywhere in a variety of scenarios, such as data exfiltration and command and control. Despite limited data rates, the new scheme can defeat known covert communication schemes with dedicated PHY in the following ways: