NSF Converence Accelerator Track G: 5G Hidden Operations through Securing Traffic (GHOST) Phase 2

NSF Converence Accelerator Track G：通过保护流量 (GHOST) 实现 5G 隐藏操作第 2 阶段

• 批准号: 2326835
• 负责人: Keith Gremban
• 金额: $ 498.32万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2326835&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Converence; 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 eliminate the costs of installing and maintaining an alternate communications infrastructure by making use of indigenous 5G networks. 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. While 5G encrypts data packets and subscriber IDs, analysis of network activity can reveal detailed information about individuals and groups. For example, pattern-of-life analysis can be used to identify and track users. Similarly, traffic analysis can reveal details of an organization’s structure and operations. The 5G Hidden Operations through Securing Traffic (GHOST) project provides four additional layers of security to protect against these threats. First, GHOST protects individuals by swapping subscriber and device IDs, along with usage patterns, or personas. Second, GHOST prevents traffic analysis by introducing ghost users and ghost traffic into the network to obscure real activity. Third, the GHOST project further frustrates traffic analysis by injecting “false flag” traffic that models real events and operations. Finally, GHOST secures devices at the hardware level by locating GHOST software inside Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). The GHOST technology will enable organizations to securely operate over foreign 5G networks, regardless of the politics of the network operators.GHOST addresses threats that cannot be countered by traditional cyber security solutions. The GHOST project will demonstrate an integrated solution on a real 5G network and evaluate GHOST effectiveness in multiple operational scenarios. The GHOST project will yield four major intellectual benefits to the research and operational communities. • First, the GHOST project will deliver technology to anonymize or disguise end-user identities and their association with locations, and communications endpoints. End-user identities will be protected by dynamically allocating software defined credentials and associated software defined personas. Association with locations are protected by correlating movement history with compromising patterns of movement. Communications connections are protected by peer-to-peer anonymization.• Second, the GHOST project will deliver technology to overlay normal network activity with ghost activity to obfuscate traffic analysis and hide regular patterns of activity or changes in activity. • Third, the GHOST project will deliver technology to model, generate, and inject “false flag” traffic into the network to make it appear to a network analyst that a real event is occurring at a particular location. • Fourth, the GHOST project will deliver technology that will protect end-user devices and non-indigenous networking equipment from penetration and compromise through the use of TEEs. The idea behind a TEE is that no software, privileged or not, should be able to access or modify protected data. TEEs enable the process of attestation of both the hardware and the software. The GHOST software will run inside the TEE to be able to attest to the security of the protocol and protect it in case of capture. GHOST technology will benefit end-users of any untrusted network, not just untrusted 5G networks. The primary criteria for success of the GHOST project will be:• Prevention of identification and tracking of individuals by a network operator.• Inability of a network analyst to determine regular activity patterns, or significant changes in activity.• Mis-leading a network analyst by injection of “false flag” activity.• GHOST software deployment in TEEs with no observable degradation in device performance.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.

世界各地5G网络的扩散为美国政府组织，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，以消除通过利用本地5G网络来消除安装和维护替代通信基础设施的成本。但是，在世界许多领域，5G网络是由不受信任并在这些环境中对美国敌对的组织部署和运营的，需要新的安全技术来确保运营。虽然5G加密数据包和订户ID，但可以揭示有关个人和组的详细信息的分析。例如，生活模式分析可用于识别和跟踪用户。同样，可以揭示组织结构和运营的细节。通过确保流量（Ghost）项目的5G隐藏操作提供了四层安全层，以防止这些威胁。首先，幽灵通过交换订户和设备ID以及使用模式或角色来保护个人。其次，Ghost通过将幽灵用户和幽灵流量引入网络来掩盖真实活动来防止流量分析。第三，幽灵项目通过注入对真实事件和操作进行建模的“错误标志”流量来进一步挫败流量分析。最后，Ghost通过在受信任的执行环境（TEES）中找到幽灵软件来确保设备在硬件级别。幽灵技术将使组织能够在外国5G网络上安全地运营，而不论网络运营商的政治性如何。GHOST解决了传统的网络安全解决方案无法应对的威胁。幽灵项目将在真实的5G网络上展示一个集成的解决方案，并在多种操作方案中评估幽灵的有效性。幽灵项目将为研究和运营社区带来四个主要的智力益处。 •首先，幽灵项目将向匿名或掩盖最终用户身份及其与位置和通信端点的关联提供技术。最终用户身份将通过动态分配软件定义的凭据和相关软件定义的角色来保护。与位置的关联是通过纠正运动历史与运动模式纠正运动历史的保护。通信连接受到点对点匿名化的保护。•其次，幽灵项目将提供技术，以叠加正常的网络活动，以掩盖幽灵活动，以混淆流量分析并隐藏活动的定期活动或活动变化。 •第三，Ghost项目将向网络中传递技术，生成和注入“ False Flag”流量，以使网络分析师在特定位置发生真实事件。 •第四，幽灵项目将提供技术，以保护最终用户设备和非土著网络设备免受通过使用T恤的渗透和妥协的技术。 TEE背后的想法是，没有任何特权的软件应能够访问或修改受保护的数据。 TEE实现了硬件和软件的证明过程。幽灵软件将在发球区内运行，以证明协议的安全性并在捕获时保护它。幽灵技术将使任何不受信任网络的最终用户不仅受益，而不仅仅是不信任的5G网络。幽灵项目成功的主要标准将是：•预防网络操作员对个人的识别和跟踪。•无法确定正常活动模式或活动的重大变化。•通过注射“错误的标志”活动来误解网络分析人员的误解。基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响评论标准。