Summary

5GhOSTS will analyze and improve the security of service-based implementations of 5G networks, relevant to protect the EU’s critical communication infrastructure. Starting from the emerging 3GPP's service-based architecture for 5G networks, which includes virtualization of mobile and core network functions, the project aims to improve the security of virtualization technologies: containers, lightweight Virtual Machines and orchestration frameworks. Unlike previous evolutions in the telecommunications sector, the 5th Generation of Telecommunication Systems (5G) presents diverse and novel requirements for technologies such as heterogeneous air interfaces, Software Defined Networking, Network Functions Virtualization, Mobile Edge Computing and Fog Computing, as well as algorithms to optimize the management of such complex networks. As a result, the 5G evolution will mainly built on layers of software services. The telecom industry is migrating to virtualized and orchestrated environments, allowing the deployment of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) on cloud infrastructure enabling the concept of network slicing. The main motivation driver for this move is sustainability through cost and energy reduction as well as full automation of telecom systems operations facilitating dynamic and scalable adaptation to service demands. State-of-the-art light-weight virtualization and container orchestration frameworks clearly contribute to this driver, but do not meet the stringent security requirements of telecommunication systems.

Challenges

As such, the 5G evolution raises a number of specific technical, scientific, legal and socio-economic challenges, which must be addressed to enable a sustainable and secure commercial solution:

1. To realize the secure management of VNFs with a strong formal understanding of the security guarantees provided by the underlying virtualization platforms.
2. To implement scalability and performance aspects of inter-container communication, key management and container attestation as prerequisites for a secure and efficient VNF manager.
3. To consider sustainable and effective privacy as a first-class citizen in 5G networks. As these networks are capable of monitoring and processing sensitive information such as the users’ communication and movement patterns, legal aspects, e.g. the General Data Protection Regulation, must be considered an integrated part of the security functionality.
4. To involve the consumer perspective and entrepreneurial activity to provide market players with an efficient and standard-aware framework for innovative and secure services.

Objectives

The objectives of the 5GhOSTS project are:

1. To form an international and interdisciplinary research group of four ESRs and senior researchers. The ESR’s will benefit from close intersectoral collaboration to develop transferable skills, both soft and technical skills that will uplift their future careers. The ambitious training networks leverages academic excellence and intersectoral mobility, together with a strong business- and innovation-oriented mind-set, to develop technical skills with a thorough understanding of legal and business aspects. 5GhOSTS fosters innovation and standardization in the mobile networks of the future, focusing on security and privacy in an EU context.
2. To design, implement and release a number of building blocks for secure light-weight virtualization and container orchestration technology for upcoming 5G networks, which provide a strong, well-understood and formalized notion of security, and which complies with legal requirements with respect to data privacy. These building blocks will be a high-priority asset for the non-academic beneficiaries’ competitiveness in 5G product development.
3. To address the growing need of the EU economy for young researchers with a strong profile (technical, legal and economic) in the 5G telecommunications domain, thus increasing the researchers’ international competitiveness.

Partners

The consortium is composed of a large telecommunications company (Ericsson) and one of Europe’s leading universities in STEM and Law (KU Leuven). Ericsson is a global company at the forefront of communications technology and 5G Telecom Systems. KU Leuven has extensive experience in virtualization technology, middleware, formal software development and trusted computing. Both partners combine strong expertise in ICT and privacy