Speaker
Yiwen Hu
Abstract
Cellular networks (4G, 5G, and beyond), the only large-scale wireless network infrastructure on par with the Internet, play an indispensable role in supporting not only daily voice, text, and data services but also critical services such as emergency services. Emergency communication over cellular networks is a vital part of our nation’s emergency response and disaster preparedness system; however, its security and reliability are still far from satisfactory due to cellular-specific technical challenges and the diversified requirements from standards organizations and administrative authorities.
In this talk, I would like to share with you my research insights and findings on (1) identifying design defects in cellular emergency services standards and (2) investigating the security and reliability of operational emergency services in the U.S., as well as the technical challenges we encounter and how to address them. Our results show that, from a security perspective, operational cellular emergency services are not only abusable but also deniable. Even more concerning, our study also reveals that, in some situations, with sufficient wireless coverage, emergency calls cannot be made within 2 minutes, whereas non-emergency calls can be made within 3-6 seconds. Finally, I will conclude my research on powering the infrastructure for critical services, discuss new challenges and opportunities for safeguarding next-generation emergency services, and outline future research directions.
Bio
Yiwen Hu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University, advised by Prof. Guan-Hua Tu and Prof. Li Xiao. Her research interests lie in the areas of Networked Systems and Wireless Communications, with a recent focus on enhancing the security and reliability of critical infrastructure, from design to practice. Her work has been published in several prestigious networking and security conferences and journals, such as ACM MobiCom, ACM CodaSpy, and IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. Her research has received several accolades, including the MobiCom Best Community Paper Runner-Up (2022, the fourth female awardee as first author in nearly three decades), GetMobile Research Highlights (2023, 2025), SIGMOBILE Research Highlights (2024), the AT&T Security Award (2024), and GSMA acknowledgment for standard updates. Moreover, her research results have been disseminated to the public through several prestigious media outlets, including Homeland Security News, Wood TV, Wilx TV, and EurekAlert.