Leon Würsching, M.Sc.

Resilience and Security for the Radio Access Network / Resilient Distributed Algorithms / Security of Cellular Network Infrastructure / Researcher

Contact Information

Pankratiusstraße 2
D-64289 Darmstadt
S2|20 202
lwuersching@seemoo.tu-darmstadt.de
+49 6151 16-25474

Biography

Leon Würsching completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in computer science and IT security (2019, 2021) at the Technical University of Darmstadt before starting as a Ph.D. candidate at the Secure Mobile Networking Lab in 2022. He is a researcher of the Open6GHub focusing on the resilience and security of future cellular networks. He works on resilience-oriented approaches for future radio access networks, including emergency island networking, distributed algorithms, and consensus protocols. Since 2023, he has coordinated the lecture on Network Security. He received the CHI 2023 Best Paper Award.

Research Areas

Resilient Radio Access Networks
Resilient Distributed Algorithms
Security of Cellular Network Infrastructure
Consensus Protocols

Offered Theses Topics

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2023 Available now

Security and Resilience of 6G/Open RAN

Supervisor: Leon Würsching

A resilient 6G system must be prepared for different failure scenarios to absorb incidents up to a certain level. The Open RAN standard [1] proposes to split the RAN into multiple units, exposing new potential points of failure and increasing the overall attack surface of the RAN. I offer Bachelor's and Master's theses exploring a given part of the 6G/Open RAN system and investigating aspects related to its security and resilience. For example, I am looking for students interested in one of the following: penetration-testing a component security analysis of a network protocol resilience analysis of infrastructure in a disaster scenario mathematically modeling requirements for a system to survive specific scenarios ... Don't worry if your favorite method is not mentioned here. There is an indefinite number of aspects to investigate in the 6G system. Let me know what you would like to do (reverse engineering, fuzzing, stochastics, conducting a user study?), and we will see if there is a way. While it can be a bonus, knowing how mobile networks work is optional. You can still learn everything relevant as a part of your thesis. Don't hesitate to contact me if you are interested in a security/resilience-related thesis in the 6G/Open RAN field! [1] https://www.o-ran.org

2022 In progress

Low-Power Network Support for the Recovery of Collapsed 6G Systems

Supervisor: Leon Würsching Frank Hessel

A resilient 6G network will be prepared for different failure scenarios and can absorb incidents to a certain level. However, there may be incidents that cannot be absorbed, e.g., a failure of the entire 6G core network due to a large-scale cyber attack. Further possible consequences of such an incident include a large-scale power outage affecting either parts or even the entire mobile network. In this type of scenario, the 6G network would collapse and split into smaller networks. Such a small network could, e.g., consist of a single isolated base station running on emergency power, and the users connected to it. From here, isolated basestations have to reconnect with other base stations to recover some functionality of the 6G network. However, the need to conserve energy further complicates the recovery process because base stations are running on emergency power. This thesis evaluates how such a recovery process of the 6G network can be supported with ad-hoc low-power networks. In this thesis, the student will explore how isolated base stations can coordinate the reconnection of isolated base stations via a low-power network. This includes discussing and choosing a suitable lower-layer protocol as a basis for the low-power network implementing a basic consensus protocol to make distributed decisions testing the developed protocol in simulation.

Publications

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2023 ACM 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference

FIDO2 the Rescue? Platform vs. Roaming Authentication on Smartphones

Leon Würsching Florentin Putz Steffen Haesler Matthias Hollick

BibTeX DOI: 10.1145/3544548.3580993

Abstract

Modern smartphones support FIDO2 passwordless authentication using either external security keys or internal biometric authentication, but it is unclear whether users appreciate and accept these new forms of web authentication for their own accounts. We present the first lab study (N=87) comparing platform and roaming authentication on smartphones, determining the practical strengths and weaknesses of FIDO2 as perceived by users in a mobile scenario. Most participants were willing to adopt passwordless authentication during our in-person user study, but closer analysis shows that participants prioritize usability, security, and availability differently depending on the account type. We identify remaining adoption barriers that prevent FIDO2 from succeeding password authentication, such as missing support for contemporary usage patterns, including account delegation and usage on multiple clients.