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网络在世界各地的激增为美国政府组织、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网络的部署和运营是由不受信任的组织部署和运营的，这些组织可能对美国怀有敌意。在这些环境中，需要新的安全技术来确保运营安全。虽然5G对数据包和订户ID进行加密，但对网络活动的分析可以揭示有关个人和群体的详细信息。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运营的细节。5G通过安全流量隐藏操作(Ghost)项目提供了四层额外的安全层来防御这些威胁。首先，Ghost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Ghost用户和Ghost流量引入网络来掩盖真实活动，从而阻止流量分析。第三，Ghost项目通过注入模拟真实事件和操作的“虚假标志”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，在硬件级别保护设备。Ghost技术将使组织能够安全地在外国5G网络上运行，而不受网络运营商的政治影响。GHOST解决了传统网络安全解决方案无法应对的威胁。Ghost项目将在真实的5G网络上演示集成解决方案，并评估Ghost在多个运营场景中的有效性。幽灵计划将为研究和运营界带来四大智力上的好处。·首先，幽灵项目将提供匿名或伪装最终用户身份及其与地点和通信终端的关联的技术。最终用户身份将通过动态分配软件定义的凭据和关联的软件定义的角色来保护。通过将移动历史与妥协的移动模式相关联来保护与位置的关联。通信连接由点对点匿名保护。·第二，Ghost项目将提供技术，将正常网络活动与Ghost活动覆盖，以混淆流量分析，并隐藏活动或活动变化的规律模式。第三，Ghost项目将提供技术来对网络流量进行建模、生成和注入，以使网络分析员感觉在特定位置发生了真实事件。·第四，Ghost项目将提供通过使用TEE保护终端用户设备和非本地网络设备免受渗透和危害的技术。TEE背后的想法是，任何软件，无论是否具有特权，都不应该能够访问或修改受保护的数据。TES支持硬件和软件的认证过程。幽灵软件将在TEE内部运行，以便能够证明协议的安全性，并在被捕获的情况下保护它。Ghost技术将使任何不可信网络的最终用户受益，而不仅仅是不可信的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常规活动模式或活动的重大变化。·通过注入“虚假旗帜”活动误导网络分析师。·在TEE中部署Ghost软件，设备性能没有明显下降。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。