Secure Network Slicing for 5G Services

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A majority of future network services and application development of rely on an infrastructure envisioned on the 5G architecture which is expected to be a crucial technology for many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) including Telus, a major Canadian ISP.Traditional security definitions of what is considered sensitive may not hold true in a 5G environment that has embraced a large number of access points to the radio network to increase coverage and capacity and that has relied on software more than hardware. The end result is an expanded attack surface; which can be simply viewed as a collection of points where the system could be compromised. The expanded attack surface exposes the network core to more risks. The impact of attacks from this expanded attack surface is expected to be higher due to the scale of the 5G network and the higher 5G data rates available to both users and attackers.Network slicing is key to providing flexible, scalable and on-demand solutions for a vast array of services in 5G networks. Given how the 5G architecture will rely on virtualization and multi-tenancy, challenges related to slice (and network function) isolation will exist. These challenges will exist while trying to meet the strict end-to-end delay requirements in ultra low-latency and device-to-device communications.We will propose and study techniques and strategies to mitigate the risks that are associated with network slicing in 5G networks in the context of the expanded attack surface in 5G networks. We will follow a risk-mitigation approach in this proposed project and will rely on creating new threat models, defence techniques and traffic management techniques. These elements of the project outcome will be instrumental in shaping a security strategy for the critical information infrastructure operators (e.g. Telus).