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.

5G网络在全球范围内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，通过利用本土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网络的部署和运营都是由不受信任的、对美国有潜在敌意的组织进行的。在这些环境中，需要新的安全技术来确保运营安全。虽然5G对数据包和用户id进行加密，但对网络活动的分析可以揭示个人和团体的详细信息。例如，生活模式分析可用于识别和跟踪用户。同样，流量分析可以揭示组织结构和操作的细节。通过保护流量的5G隐藏操作（GHOST）项目提供了四个额外的安全层来防范这些威胁。首先，GHOST通过交换用户和设备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以掩盖真实活动来防止流量分析。第三，GHOST项目通过注入模拟真实事件和操作的“假标志”流量，进一步挫败了流量分析。最后，GHOST通过在可信执行环境（tee）中定位GHOST软件来保护硬件级别的设备。GHOST技术将使组织能够在国外5G网络上安全运营，而不受网络运营商政治的影响。GHOST解决了传统网络安全解决方案无法应对的威胁。GHOST项目将在真实5G网络上演示集成解决方案，并评估GHOST在多种作战场景下的有效性。GHOST项目将为研究和操作社区带来四大智力优势。•首先，GHOST项目将提供匿名化或伪装最终用户身份及其与位置和通信端点的关联的技术。最终用户身份将通过动态分配软件定义凭据和相关的软件定义角色得到保护。通过将运动历史与运动模式相关联来保护与位置的联系。通信连接受到点对点匿名化的保护。•第二，GHOST项目将提供覆盖正常网络活动和幽灵活动的技术，以混淆流量分析，隐藏活动的规律模式或活动的变化。•第三，GHOST项目将提供技术来模拟、生成和注入“假标志”流量到网络中，使网络分析师认为在特定位置发生了真实事件。第四，GHOST项目将提供技术，保护终端用户设备和非本地网络设备免受tee的渗透和危害。TEE背后的思想是，任何软件，无论是否享有特权，都不应该能够访问或修改受保护的数据。tee支持硬件和软件的认证过程。GHOST软件将在TEE内部运行，以便能够证明协议的安全性，并在捕获的情况下保护它。GHOST技术将使任何不受信任网络的最终用户受益，而不仅仅是不受信任的5G网络。GHOST项目成功的主要标准将是：•防止网络运营商识别和跟踪个人。•网络分析师无法确定有规律的活动模式，或活动中的重大变化。•通过注入“假旗”活动误导网络分析师。•GHOST软件部署在tee中，没有明显的设备性能下降。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。