NSF Convergence Accelerator Track G: Combating Vulnerability and Unawareness in 5G Network Security

可靠、高速的5G无线接入已经成为全球的必需品；然而，美国在无线领域的领导地位已经落后，缺乏主要的无线接入网络（RAN）或蜂窝网络制造商。此外，蜂窝网络不是为关键任务通信而设计的，并且暴露了几个安全漏洞。因此，美国国防部（DoD）在为美国军事行动使用商用现成的5G产品和商业网络方面面临挑战。零信任X （ZTX）团队是一个由5G和安全领域的跨学科专家组成的联盟，将研究和开发一系列安全解决方案，以建立零信任链（ZTC），为国防部用例可靠使用5G网络实现端到端安全和保护。拟议的工作将产生适合美国工业和国防部使用的知识和研究成果。此外，该项目将培训一个多样化的学生研究团队，并提供开源软件，促进可移植性、可重复性，并与该计划的其他Track G解决方案集成。该项目的具体目标是开发ZTC软件，使军事小队能够在使用高性能但通常不可信的5G网络的操作中安全地共享态势感知。软件解决方案利用5G标准的灵活性，在不同的网络节点和网络层实施创新的安全解决方案，使国防部运营商能够近实时地检测恶意实体，并建立通信机制，防止访问或控制国防部流量。具体而言，通过与5G网络运营商的最小合作，ZTC解决方案的一部分利用开放ran （O-RAN）和5G核心为中心的方法进行实际威胁监测和缓解。这是补充以设备为中心的安全增强，以确保国防部设备也实现自己的安全层，而不仅仅依赖于网络提供商的安全协议。六个关键功能使ZTC有别于其他解决方案：(i)它建立在开放人工智能蜂窝（OAIC）平台上，通过RAN智能控制器开发O-RAN威胁监控和缓解；（ii）它提供跨5G RAN和核心的端到端安全切片；（iii）近乎实时地检测用户设备上的威胁；（iv）通过应用层创新保护通信，而不是修改现有的5G物理层协议和算法；(v)确保位置隐私和弹性，以应对未知/意外的拒绝服务攻击；（vi）不需要修改公共5G/O-RAN网络和标准，只需要在5G用户设备和合作5G网络上安装低开销的软件模块。ZTX团队的工作适用于商用和军用5G通信网络以及O-RAN。ZTX团队将首先在实验室规模的集成5G/O-RAN测试台上实施和实验评估拟议的ZTC，随后在其他可用的测试台上为商业过渡做准备。该团队将运用“融合加速器”的基本原理来促进伙伴关系，并开发一种可持续性模式，其影响将远远超出该计划的第二阶段。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。

Reliable and high-rate 5G wireless access has become a global necessity; however, the US has fallen behind in wireless leadership, lacking major radio access network (RAN) or cellular network manufacturers. Furthermore, cellular networks have not been designed for mission-critical communications and have exposed several security vulnerabilities. Consequently, the Department of Defense (DoD) faces challenges in using commercial off-the-shelf 5G products and commercial networks for US military operations. The Zero Trust X (ZTX) team, a consortium of interdisciplinary experts in the field of 5G and security, will research and develop a family of security solutions to establish a Zero Trust Chain (ZTC) that enables end-to-end security and protection for reliable use of 5G networks for DoD use cases. The proposed effort will generate knowledge and research outcomes tailored for use by US industry and DoD. Additionally, the project will train a diverse team of students in research and provide open-source software that facilitates portability, reproducibility, and integration with other Track G solutions of this program.The project's specific goal is to develop the ZTC software that enables military squads to securely share situational awareness in their operations using high-performance, yet often untrusted, 5G networks. The software solution leverages the flexibility of the 5G standard and implements innovative security solutions at different network nodes and layers to empower DoD operators to detect malicious entities in near-real time and establish communication mechanisms to prevent access to or control over DoD traffic. Specifically, through minimal cooperation with 5G network operators, part of the ZTC solution leverages Open-RAN (O-RAN) and 5G core-centric approaches for practical threat monitoring and mitigation. This is complemented by device-centric security enhancements to ensure that DoD devices also implement their own layer of security and do not solely depend on the security protocols of the network provider. Six key features set ZTC apart from other solutions: (i) it builds on the Open Artificial Intelligence Cellular (OAIC) platform for developing O-RAN threat monitoring and mitigation through RAN Intelligent Controllers; (ii) it offers end-to-end secure slicing across the 5G RAN and Core; (iii) it detects threats at user devices in near-real time; (iv) it protects communication through innovation at the application layer rather than modifying existing 5G physical layer protocols and algorithms; (v) it ensures location privacy and resiliency to unknown/unanticipated denial of service (DoS) attacks; and (vi) it does not require modifications to public 5G/O-RAN networks and standards, and only requires installation of low-overhead software modules on 5G user devices and cooperative 5G networks. The ZTX team's work is applicable to commercial and military 5G communication networks and to O-RAN. The ZTX team will implement and experimentally evaluate the proposed ZTC initially on a laboratory-scale integrated 5G/O-RAN testbed, and subsequently on other available testbeds to prepare for commercial transition. The team will apply Convergence Accelerator fundamentals to foster partnerships and to develop a sustainability model with an impact extending well beyond Phase 2 of the program.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.