Mobile broadband router (4G router): what it is and how it is attacked
A box, or a phone, that gives a network its own connection through the mobile phone network.
Also known as
- 4G router
- 5G router
- cellular modem
- MiFi
- dongle
- tethering
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
It is a second way in and out that does not pass through the firewall, the web filter or the logging. That is exactly why it gets used, and exactly why it belongs on the diagram.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Traffic taking a path that no gateway inspects and no log records
- A backup link left live at all times instead of only during an outage
- Commissioned quickly by a team that needed connectivity, and never handed over
What reduces it
- Look for the connection existing at all, since there will be no record of what crossed it
- Keep a standby link disconnected until it is needed, because one always connected is a second front door
- Require a handover record before any site connection goes live
Where it sits
- Group
- Wireless and radio · The parts of the network that travel through the air, and how far they reach.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- cellular-router
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in wireless and radio
- Wi-Fi access pointAP · wireless · WAPLets devices join the network without a cable.
- Wireless network nameSSID · network name · WLAN · guest wifiThe name devices show in their list of available wireless networks.
- Wireless controllerWLC · wireless LAN controller · AP controller · cloud-managed wirelessThe single system that configures and watches every wireless access point.
- Satellite terminalVSAT · satcom · satellite internet · BGANA dish or flat panel that connects a site to the internet through a satellite.
- Satellite time and location receiverGPS · GNSS · GPS clock · grandmaster clock · timing sourceA device that works out where it is, and what the time is, from satellites.
- Bluetooth deviceBT · Bluetooth Low Energy · BLE · pairing · wireless keyboardSomething that connects to a phone or a computer over a short-range radio link: a headset, a keyboard, a car.
- Low-power radio deviceLoRa · LoRaWAN · Zigbee · Z-Wave · sub-GHz · wireless sensorA small battery-powered sensor or switch that sends short messages over a long range: a meter, a door contact, a thermostat.
- Radio gatewayIoT gateway · LoRaWAN gateway · Zigbee hub · protocol bridge · smart hubThe box that turns messages from small wireless sensors into ordinary network traffic.
- Contactless readerNFC reader · tap reader · payment terminal · card terminalA pad that reads a card, a phone or a wristband held against it, usually to take a payment.
- Wireless monitoring sensorWIDS · WIPS · wireless intrusion detection · air monitorEquipment that listens to the airwaves and reports transmitters that should not be there.
The wireless and radio group lists all 11 of them side by side.
Mobile broadband router on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type 4G router. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker