Security for 5G and Beyond

Ijaz Ahmady, Shahriar Shahabuddinz, Tanesh Kumar, Jude

Okwuibe, Andrei Gurtovx, Mika Ylianttila

Presented by
Jeonghun Cha

1
 INDEX

1. Introduction
2. Related Work
3. Security in Wireless Networks: From 1 to 4G
4. Security in 5G: An Overview
5. Security in 5G Network: Challenges and Solutions
6. Security in key 5G technologies
7. Privacy Challenges and Solutions
8. New Dimensions in Security Fut. Net.: The XG
9. Conclusion
1. Introduction

❑ The 5G wireless networks will provide very high data rates and higher coverage
with significantly improved Quality of Service (QoS), and extremely low latency

❑ 5G will connect nearly all aspects of the human life to communication networks
1. Introduction

❑ 5G is not a mere incremental advancement of 4G as one might intuitively think,

but an integration of new disruptive technologies to meet the ever growing
demands of user traffic, emerging services, existing and future IoT devices

❑ With all these capabilities, 5G will connect nearly all aspects of the human life to
communication networks, and this underscores the need for robust security
mechanisms across all network segments of the 5G.
1. Introduction

❑ The security solutions and architectures used in previous generations (i.e. 3G and
4G), apparently, will not suffice for 5G

❑ The main reason for new security solutions and architecture is the dynamics of
new services and technologies in 5G
1. Introduction

❑ there are new technological concepts or solutions that will be used in 5G to meet
the demands of increasingly diverse applications and connected devices

❑ the concepts of cloud computing, Software Defined Networking (SDN), and

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are considered to be the potential
problem solvers in terms of costs and efficiency

❑ However, each of these technologies have its own security challenges

1. Introduction

❑ the core network entities such as Home Subscriber Server (HSS) and Mobility
Management Entity (MME) that hold the user billing, personal, and mobility
handling information, respectively, deployed in clouds will render the whole
network ineffective if security breaches occur

❑ Similarly, SDN centralizes the network control logic in SDN controllers.

❑ These controllers will be the favorite choice for attackers to render the whole
network down through Denial of Service (DoS) or resource exhaustion attacks
1. Introduction

❑ This article studies the state of the art of security in 5G networks

❑ It starts off with a dive into the security challenges and corresponding solutions
for the previous generations of networks ranging from 1G to 4G

❑ It then presents a comprehensive overview of the technologies associated with

5G with regards to their corresponding security challenges and respective
solutions
2. Related Work

❑ The vision of 5G lies in providing very high data rates (Gigabits per second),
extremely low latency, manifold increase in base station density and capacity, and
significant improvement in quality of service, compared to 4G systems

❑ The concerns related to security, indirectly if not directly effecting it, pertaining
to 4G are the lack of mechanisms to support data traffic bursts, limited processing
capabilities of base stations, and latency

❑ These limitations, if not removed, will make the network prone to security
challenges
2. Related Work

❑ the survey article [11] provides some interesting insights on the limitations of the
current 4G networks that must be solved in 5G

❑ General requirements and mechanisms for strengthening security in 5G are

presented in [15]

❑ A survey on security of 4G and 5G networks is presented in [16]

• The article focuses on existing authentication and privacy-preserving
schemes for 4G and 5G networks

❑ Security challenges and the possible mitigation techniques along with

standardization efforts in 4G and older generations are presented in [17]
2. Related Work

❑ Security challenges and the possible mitigation techniques in the wireless air
interfaces are discussed in [19]
❑ The article considers various wireless access technologies such as Bluetooth,
Wi-Fi, WiMAX and LTE, and discusses the inherent security limitations and
future directions for strengthening the security of each technology

❑ However, the increasing diversity and number of communicating devices such as

IoT and V2X would require drastically new security solutions that will need
context awareness and high degree of automation.

❑ Therefore, this article also discusses the future of security in environments replete
with massive IoT, such as smart cities
3. SECURITY IN WIRELESS NETWORKS: FROM 1G TO 4G

❑ The 1G cellular systems used analog signal processing and were designed
primarily for voice services

❑ This advance phone service did not use encryption and thus there was no security
of information or telephone conversations

❑ Hence, practically the whole system and users were open to security challenges
such as eavesdropping, illegal access, cloning, and user privacy [4], [32]
3. SECURITY IN WIRELESS NETWORKS: FROM 1G TO 4G

❑ Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication became the most successful
and widely used standard in cellular communications as part of 2G cellular
networks

❑ The signalling and user data protection was carried out through encryption in
which the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) played an important role in the
encryption keys.

❑ However, 2G had several security limitations or weaknesses. The operators only

authenticated the UEs in a unilateral mechanism, whereas the UEs had no option
to authenticate the operator
3. SECURITY IN WIRELESS NETWORKS: FROM 1G TO 4G

❑ The 3G cellular networks were developed primarily to provide higher data rates
than 2G networks.

❑ Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a 3G cellular

technology that is developed and maintained by 3GPP

❑ Contrary to the unilateral authentication of GSM, UMTS supports bilateral

authentication which removes the threat of a false base station
3. SECURITY IN WIRELESS NETWORKS: FROM 1G TO 4G

❑ The release 10 from 3GPP, which is commonly known as LTE-Advanced (LTE-

A), fulfills the requirements of the 4G standard that was specified by International
Telecommunications Union - Radio Communication Sector (ITU-R) [47]

❑ The Evolved Packet System-AKA (EPS-AKA) had one major enhancement over
UMTS-AKA which is called cryptographic network separation.
 The Evolved Packet System-AKA (EPS-AKA)

UE eNB MME HSS

User ID Request

Auth. Data Request

User ID Response(IMSI)

Auth. Vector Response

User Authentication Request

User Authentication response

UE : User Equipment
eNB : eNodeB (based station)
MME : Mobility Management Entity
HSS : Home Subscriber Server
4. SECURITY IN 5G: AN OVERVIEW

Fig. 2. 5G Design Principles.

4. SECURITY IN 5G: AN OVERVIEW

Fig. 3. Overview of the security architecture

4. SECURITY IN 5G: AN OVERVIEW

General Overview of Security in 5G

❑ The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) has provided recommendations

for 5G based on current network architectures and the shortfall in security
measures that are either not developed or developed but not yet put to use

❑ Flash network traffic: It is projected that the number of end user devices will
grow exponentially in 5G that will cause significant changes in the network
traffic patterns either accidentally or with malicious intent

❑ Security of radio interface keys: In previous network architectures, including 4G,

the radio interface encryption keys are generated in the home network and sent to the
visited network over insecure links causing a clear point of exposure of keys
4. SECURITY IN 5G: AN OVERVIEW

❑ User plane integrity: The 3G and 4G systems provide protection to some

signaling messages but do not provide cryptographic integrity protection for the
user data plane.

❑ Mandated network security: There can be certain servicedriven constraints (e.g.

latency) in security architectures leading to optional use of security measures.

❑ Consistency in subscriber level security policies: User security measures must

be intact when a user moves from one operator network to another.

❑ DoS attacks on the Infrastructure: This threat will be more severe due to the
possibility of attacks from machines that are geographically dispersed and are in
huge numbers (compromised IoT)
Fig. 4. Security threat landscape in 5G networks.
4. SECURITY IN 5G: AN OVERVIEW

❑ The vision of secure 5G systems that is outlined by NGMN [7] is based on three
principles. These are: i) flexible security mechanisms, ii) supreme built-in
security, and iii) security automation, as highlighted in Fig. 5
4. SECURITY IN 5G: AN OVERVIEW

❑ With the anticipation of 5G, various actors; even outside the telecom sector such
as automotive are indulging in evaluating the security impacts of 5G

❑ However, the standardization is still in the drafting phase

5. SECURITY IN 5G NETWORKS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

❑ To properly investigate the security perspectives of the overall network in a

systematic way, security in the network architecture is described in three-tiers i.e.
i) access networks, ii) backhaul network, and iii) the core network

❑ i) access networks :
❑ The current networks are already prone to many Internet-based threats that
can target the access nodes such as eNBs in LTE and low powered access
nodes, as detailed in [68].

❑ 5G will leverage virtualization, SDN, and cloud technologies to adapt

execution logic to specific services with composition and instantiation of
access in different network locations [130].

❑ With such capabilities, 5G will improve the systems’ robustness against

various types of security challenges arising in diverse access technologies.
5. SECURITY IN 5G NETWORKS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

❑ ii) backhaul network :

❑ The security of backhaul is different in a sense that it involves both radio

and core part of the network.

❑ For traffic towards the Internet or external network, the eNB sends the traffic
to the serving gateway through GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP).

❑ The serving gateway sends the traffic to Public Data Network (PDN)
gateway which communicates with external networks or the Internet.

❑ The LTE the backhaul enhanced network security through introducing

Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) based GTP tunnels for the X2 interface
between eNBs, and S1 interface between eNBs and MMEs
5. SECURITY IN 5G NETWORKS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

❑ iii) the core network :

❑ The core network of LTE or 4G, called EPC, comprised different entities
such as MME, serving gateway, PDN gateway, and HSS [163]

❑ The core network is IP based and ensures end to end service delivery,
security and QoS, and maintains subscriber information

❑ The 5G core network is more dynamic compared to the previous

generations leveraging NFV, SDN and cloud technologies as described in
Section VI.

❑ it is the main target of security threats and prone to security vulnerabilities as

well.
5. SECURITY IN 5G NETWORKS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Fig. 6. High-level architecture presentation of 5G networks.

6. SECURITY IN KEY 5G TECHNOLOGIES

❑ the main enabling and disruptive technologies compared to the previous

generations are massive MIMO antennas, SDN, NFV and the concepts of cloud
computing such as Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC)

❑ 1) Security Challenges in massive MIMO:

❑ Massive MIMO is considered as one the most promising and disruptive

technologies for 5G [179]

❑ The key idea of massive MIMO is to equip the base station with a large
number of antenna elements that can serve a large number of user terminals
with the same frequency band [3]

❑ The large number of antenna elements can be used in various modes to

increase the data rates or to enhance the reliability, coverage or energy
efficiency
6. SECURITY IN KEY 5G TECHNOLOGIES

❑ 1) The security vulnerabilities in massive MIMO:

❑ In the passive eavesdropping, the attacker tries to intercept the transmitted

signals. The passive eavesdropper does not transmit any signal itself

❑ In the active eavesdropping, the attacker also transmits signals to disrupt the
legitimate user’s transmission

❑ If the only goal of the active attack is to disrupt the legitimate transmission,
it can be called a jamming attack [183]

❑ Another intelligent form of the active attack is based on pilot contamination

• It is called pilot spoofing where the attacker pretends to be a legitimate user
6. SECURITY IN KEY 5G TECHNOLOGIES

❑ 2) Security in SDN :

❑ SDN separates the network control plane from the forwarding plane and
centralizes the network control into softwarebased network control platforms

❑ The softwarized network control functions are logically centralized that

interact with forwarding devices through programmable APIs

❑ This achieves simplicity in network control, management and operation,

and accelerates novelty in network feature development and deployment

❑ centralizing the network control make the control platform a favorable

choice for DoS attacks

❑ exposing critical APIs to unintended software will expose the network to

security threats. The number of security challenges have grown since the
inception of OpenFlow
6. SECURITY IN KEY 5G TECHNOLOGIES

❑ 2) Security in NFV :

❑ The main idea behind virtualization is to decouple a system’s service model

from its physical realization to use logical instances of the physical hardware
for different purposes

❑ Since the number of services or virtual functions will grow a growing

concern is related to the manual configurations of the virtual systems or
VNFs [226] that can lead to potential security breaches due to the increased
complexity with the growth of the systems.
❑ Virtualization can highly increase the user, service and network security.
A basic mechanism is to use slicing to separate traffic of different services
(Fig. 8) or network segments based on security priorities

Fig. 8. Secure end-to-end tunnels for different services

6. SECURITY IN KEY 5G TECHNOLOGIES

❑ 2) Security in NFV :

❑ Even though virtual systems can be difficult to monitor compared to

physical systems, virtual systems have their own benefits in terms of security

❑ For instance, a virtual system can be easily migrated or replicated to

minimize the effect of security attacks

❑ The dynamic nature of VNFs and virtualized resources can be used as a

strength in terms of security

❑ For instance, the flexibility of NFV allows isolating compromised network

elements, or even whole network segments through defining security zones
and using traffic steering [228]
6. SECURITY IN KEY 5G TECHNOLOGIES

❑ 3) Security in Cloud :

❑ Cloud-based Cyber-Physical Systems (CCPS) achieve virtualization of

network components using cyber-physical clouds

• Typical security attack in this landscape include HyperText Transfer

Protocol (HTTP) and Extensible Markup Language (XML) DoS (HX-
DoS) attack

• possible mitigation technique for networked DoS attack in virtualized

systems is the implementation of firewall proxies, this will require an
ACK to be received on the client side before an attacker’s request can
be forwarded

❑ Cloud intrusion: Mitigating against cloud intrusion is mainly achieved by

building IDSs to work in conjunction with other control mechanisms in the
cloud computing environment
7. PRIVACY CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

❑ 1) Privacy: 1G - 3G :

❑ 1G did not have suitable encryption mechanisms to ensure privacy Hence,

private communications can be listened to and intercepted by the adversaries
even from a far away distance

❑ 2G systems did not have mutual authentication approaches between mobile

phone subscribers and corresponding networks

❑ 3G is observed that they are exposed to various attacks which were mainly
targeting the identity and confidentiality of the subscribers such as IMSI
paging attacks and AKA error message attacks[282], [280]
7. PRIVACY CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

❑ 1) Privacy: 4G :

❑ 4G networks are currently the most widely used mobile networks and have
significant amount of enhancement in terms of data rates compared to the
previous generations

❑ Two of the most critical vulnerabilities being man-in-middle attacks, and

eavesdropping attacks

❑ This happens when adversaries set up fake base stations and act as real
network base stations [16]

❑ Several research works have proffered various possible solutions to mitigate

man-in-the-middle attacks, popular among these is the use of cryptographic
authentication protocols
7. PRIVACY CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

❑ 1) Privacy: 5G :

❑ The advent of new architectures, technologies and services in 5G networks

will eventually generate higher privacy risks for users and other stakeholders
as compared to previous generations

❑ In addition, the integration of technologies such SDN, NFV, cloud/edge

computing with the 5G eco-system will expose the networks to even more
serious privacy challenges

❑ various heterogeneous operators and service providers involved in the

process may access personal data of the consumer with or without their
consent

❑ Therefore, end-to-end data confidentiality mechanisms are required to

ensure data protection [284]
7. PRIVACY CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
8. NEW DIMENSIONS IN SECURITY OF FUTURE NETWORKS: THE XG

❑ The Concept of XG:

❑ For presenting future directions in network security, we define XG as a

secure and autonomous network of numerous smart objects in smart
environments

❑ Hence, the real benefits of IoT, aiming the smart cities, can be realized when
the communication systems are also smart enough to intelligently and
autonomously deliver the necessary information generated and needed by
IoT [330]

❑ This needs i) intelligent communication systems that are responsive to the

needs of IoT in real-time, and ii) provide coverage, in ideal conditions,
everywhere. XG, in our view, will be the future network having these
capabilities.
8. NEW DIMENSIONS IN SECURITY OF FUTURE NETWORKS: THE XG

❑ The Concept of XG:

❑ Taking the network functions from software rather than hardware is one of
the key trends in future wireless networks

❑ changes in network policies and traffic conditions require complex

configuration of firewalls

❑ Technologies like SDN that enable programmability, centralize the network

control, and equip the network management plane with global visibility of
the network state can mitigate the risks involved in configurations and easily
monitor the overall network traffic
8. NEW DIMENSIONS IN SECURITY OF FUTURE NETWORKS: THE XG

❑ The Concept of XG (Automation & AI):

❑ Proactive security measures would require continuous intelligence gathering

with AI, and using that intelligence o mitigate the possibility of security risks
or lapses

❑ Due to the complexity of next generation networks in terms of heterogeneity

in networks, devices, applications and services, network functions must be
automated [365], [366]
8. NEW DIMENSIONS IN SECURITY OF FUTURE NETWORKS: THE XG

❑ The Concept of XG (Blockchain):

❑ Blockchain allows various stakeholders/entities to securely share and access

the the critical data

❑ most of the related work suggest that many of the security frameworks are
based on centralized approaches

❑ Centralized security systems, however, have challenges of scalability and

single point of failures

❑ Thus, blockchain based approaches in such cases can offer decentralized

means of security and privacy mechanisms for IoT applications [385], [386]
8. NEW DIMENSIONS IN SECURITY OF FUTURE NETWORKS: THE XG

❑ The Concept of XG (Privacy):

❑ As highlighted above, the XG technology will be key enabler of massive and

critical applications in various domains such as smart health-care, industries
automation, transportation/ Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and massive IoT

❑ all other involved stakeholders such as infrastructure provider, network

operator and service providers need to ensure that users’ personal
information should not leak during various phases such as user interaction
with environment, identification process and data storage among others

❑ In addition to technological solutions to protect the privacy, there will also

be need of strong regulations and polices for such smart environments [397]
8. NEW DIMENSIONS IN SECURITY OF FUTURE NETWORKS: THE XG

Fig. 9. Overview of security systems in communication networks for future cities

(highlight AI, SDN, NFV in figure).
9. Conclusion & Opinion

❑ For integrating new things (IoT) and services into the network, 5G will use new
technologies such as advanced cloud computing concepts (e.g. MEC), SDN, NFV,
and massive MIMO etc

❑ These technologies have their own inherent security challenges which can further
complicate the network security landscape

❑ The conglomeration of diverse devices, services, and new networking

technologies does increase the security threat landscape, and thus new security
solutions must be sought for efficient and secure connectivity
Thank you.
 reference

Ahmad, Ijaz, et al. "Security for 5G and Beyond." IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials (2019).