Detecting malicious small cells based on a connectivity schedule

At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions to be executed by at least one processor, wherein execution of the instructions cause a small cell of a telecommunications network to:

• receive a first connection request of a wireless device to access the telecommunications network;
• relay, to an upstream node, the first connection request of the wireless device;
• receive, from the upstream node, device profile data including information to authenticate the wireless device;
• provide the wireless device access to the telecommunications network;
• cache the device profile data at the small cell;
• receive a second connection request of the wireless device to access the telecommunications network at the small cell;
• and
• bypass the upstream node to authenticate the wireless device based on the cached profile data.

A network access node (NAN) comprising:

• a network interface;
• a wireless transceiver system for exchanging wireless communications signals using a wireless telecommunications protocol;
• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the NAN to:
• receive, at the network interface, a first connection request from a wireless device to access a telecommunications network,
• wherein the first connection request includes an indication of a subscriber;
• transmit, an upstream node of the telecommunication network, the first connection request of the wireless device;
• obtain, from the upstream node of the telecommunication network, subscriber profile data based on the indication of the subscriber;
• cache the subscriber profile data at the NAN for a set time period;
• receive, during the set time period, a second connection request from the wireless device to access the telecommunications network;
• authenticate the subscriber based on the cached profile data at the NAN without subsequent communication with the upstream node to authenticate the subscriber in response to the second connection request;
• and
• grant, to the wireless device, access to the telecommunications network.