NSF Convergence Accelerator Track G: 5G Hidden Operations through Securing Traffic (GHOST)

NSF 融合加速器轨道 G：通过保护流量实现 5G 隐藏操作 (GHOST)

• 批准号: 2226426
• 负责人: Keith Gremban
• 金额: $ 74.92万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-15 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2226426&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Convergence; Accelerator; Track; 5G

: The proliferation of 5G networks around the world presents an attractive opportunity for U.S. government organizations, nongovernmental humanitarian aid organizations, and private sector enterprises to take advantage of indigenous 5G networks to eliminate the costs of installing and maintaining an alternate communications infrastructure. However, in many areas of the world, 5G networks are deployed and operated by organizations that are untrusted and potentially hostile to the U.S. In these environments, new security technologies are needed to secure operations. The 5G Hidden Operations through Securing Traffic (GHOST) project provides four layers of security. First, GHOST protects against end-user and networking devices from being compromised by a hostile network. Second, GHOST anonymizes individual identities and obscures user locations. Third, GHOST prevents traffic analysis that could reveal operational plans and activities by anonymizing communication connections and introducing “GHOST” traffic into the network to maintain a constant level of activity. Finally, the GHOST project will further obfuscate traffic analysis by injecting “false flag” traffic that models real operations to confuse and mislead analysis. The GHOST technology will enable organizations ranging from the U.S. military to private entities to securely operate over indigenous 5G networks, regardless of the politics of the network operators.The GHOST project addresses the core intellectual challenge of providing secure communications resistant to penetration and traffic analysis over untrusted networks. The GHOST project considers the network as a black box that is assumed to be operated by a hostile agent. Addressing the challenge will yield four intellectual benefits to the research and operational communities. • First, the GHOST project will deliver technology that will protect end-user devices and non-indigenous networking equipment from penetration and compromise. The technology secures devices at the hardware level through the use of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). The idea behind a TEE is that anything coming from outside the chip boundary is untrusted. TEEs enforce this trusted boundary by implementing integrity verification of data and code and encrypting them once they cross the trusted boundary. • Second, the GHOST project will deliver technology to anonymize or disguise end-user identities, locations, and communications endpoints. End-user identities will be protected using software defined credentials. Locations are protected using geo-spatial identity management. Communications connections are protected by peer-to-peer anonymization.• Third, the GHOST project will deliver technology to overlay normal traffic with “GHOST” traffic — essentially network white noise — to obfuscate traffic analysis. • Fourth, the GHOST project will deliver technology to model and generate “false flag” traffic. Through monitoring and simulation, models of traffic patterns associated with specific operations will be generated. “False flag” traffic injected into the network will reflect the traffic associated with a particular operation and be convincing to any observers.GHOST technology will benefit end-users of any network, not just untrusted networks. The primary criteria for success of the GHOST project will be:• Device protection from network operator attacks;• The obfuscation of user identities, locations, and communications connections;• The obfuscation of traffic patterns;• The injection of “false flag” traffic.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

5G网络在世界各地的普及为美国政府组织、非政府人道主义援助组织和私营部门企业提供了一个有吸引力的机会，可以利用本土5G网络来消除安装和维护替代通信基础设施的成本。然而，在世界许多地区，5G网络是由不受信任且可能对美国怀有敌意的组织部署和运营的。在这些环境中，需要新的安全技术来确保运营安全。 5G通过保护流量的隐藏操作（GHOST）项目提供了四层安全性。 首先，GHOST可以保护最终用户和网络设备免受恶意网络的危害。 其次，GHOST匿名化个人身份并隐藏用户位置。 第三，GHOST通过匿名通信连接和将“GHOST”流量引入网络以保持恒定的活动水平来防止可能揭示操作计划和活动的流量分析。 最后，GHOST项目将通过注入模拟真实的操作的“假标志”流量来混淆和误导分析，从而进一步混淆流量分析。GHOST技术将使从美国军方到私人实体的组织能够在本土5G网络上安全运营，而不管网络运营商的政治立场如何。GHOST项目解决了在不可信网络上提供安全通信的核心智力挑战，该通信可抵抗渗透和流量分析。GHOST项目将网络视为一个黑盒子，假设由敌对代理操作。应对这一挑战将为研究和业务界带来四个知识上的好处。首先，GHOST项目将提供保护最终用户设备和非本地网络设备免受渗透和危害的技术。该技术通过使用可信执行环境（TEE）在硬件级别保护设备。 TEE背后的想法是，来自芯片边界之外的任何东西都是不可信的。TEE通过实现数据和代码的完整性验证并在它们越过可信边界时对其进行加密来实施此可信边界。·其次，GHOST项目将提供匿名或伪装最终用户身份、位置和通信端点的技术。 最终用户身份将使用软件定义的凭据进行保护。 使用地理空间身份管理保护地点。 通信连接受对等匿名化保护。·第三，GHOST项目将提供技术，将正常流量与“GHOST”流量（本质上是网络白色噪声）叠加，以混淆流量分析。 第四，GHOST项目将提供技术来建模和生成“假标志”流量。 通过监测和模拟，将生成与具体行动有关的交通模式模型。 注入网络的“假标志”流量将反映与特定操作相关的流量，并使任何观察者信服。GHOST技术将使任何网络的最终用户受益，而不仅仅是不受信任的网络。GHOST项目成功的主要标准是：·设备保护免受网络运营商攻击;·用户身份、位置和通信连接的混淆;·流量模式的混淆;·“假标志”流量的注入。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。