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How DoS attacks can be mounted on Network Slice Broker and can they be mitigated using blockchain?

2021-09-16, Hewa, Tharaka, Kalla, Anshuman, Porambage, Pawani, Liyanage, Madhusanka, Ylianttila, Mika

Several recent works talk about the potential use of network slice brokering mechanism to facilitate the resource allocation of network slicing in next generation networks. This involves network tenants on the one hand and resource/infrastructure providers on the other hand. However, the potential downside of deploying Network Slice Broker (NSB) is that it can be victimized by DoS (Denial of Service) attack. Thus, the aim of this work is three fold. First, to present the possible ways in which DoS/DDoS attacks can be mounted on NSB and their adverse effects. Second, to propose and implement initial blockchain-based solution named as Security Service Blockchain (SSB) to prevent DoS attacks on NSB. Third, to enumerate the challenges and future research directions to effectively utilize blockchain for mitigating DoS/DDoS attacks on NSB. To evaluate the performance the proposed SSB framework is implemented using Hyperledger Fabric. The results manifest that the latency impact of the legitimate slice creation over scaled up malicious traffic remains minimal with the use of SSB framework. The integration of SSB with NSB results in gaining several fold reduction in latency under DoS attack scenario.

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The role of 5G for digital healthcare against COVID-19 pandemic: Opportunities and challenges

2020-11, Siriwardhana, Yushan, Gur, Gurkan, Ylianttila, Mika, Liyanage, Madhusanka

COVID-19 pandemic caused a massive impact on healthcare, social life, and economies on a global scale. Apparently, technology has a vital role to enable ubiquitous and accessible digital health services in pandemic conditions as well as against “re-emergence” of COVID-19 disease in a post-pandemic era. Accordingly, 5G systems and 5G-enabled e-health solutions are paramount. This paper highlights methodologies to effectively utilize 5G for e-health use cases and its role to enable relevant digital services. It also provides a comprehensive discussion of the implementation issues, possible remedies and future research directions for 5G to alleviate the health challenges related to COVID-19.

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Proxy re-encryption enabled secure and anonymous IoT data sharing platform based on blockchain

2021-02-15, Manzoor, Ahsan, Braeken, An, Kanhere, Salil S., Ylianttila, Mika, Liyanage, Madhusanka

Data is central to the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. With billions of devices connected, most of the current IoT systems are using centralized cloud-based data sharing systems, which will be difficult to scale up to meet the demands of future IoT systems. The involvement of such a third-party service provider requires also trust from both the sensor owner and sensor data user. Moreover, fees need to be paid for their services. To tackle both the scalability and trust issues and to automatize the payments, this paper presents a blockchain-based marketplace for sharing of the IoT data. We also use a proxy re-encryption scheme for transferring the data securely and anonymously, from data producer to the consumer. The system stores the IoT data in cloud storage after encryption. To share the collected IoT data, the system establishes runtime dynamic smart contracts between the sensor and data consumer without the involvement of a trusted third-party. It also uses a very efficient proxy re-encryption scheme which allows that the data is only visible by the owner and the person present in the smart contract. This novel combination of smart contracts with proxy re-encryption provides an efficient, fast and secure platform for storing, trading and managing sensor data. The proposed system is implemented using off-the-shelf IoT sensors and computer devices. We also analyze the performance of our hybrid system by using the permission-less Ethereum blockchain and compare it to the IBM Hyperledger Fabric, a permissioned blockchain.

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6G Security Challenges and Potential Solutions

2021-06-11, Porambage, Pawani, Gur, Gurkan, Osorio, Diana Pamela Moya, Liyanage, Madhusanka, Ylianttila, Mika

Although the fifth generation wireless networks are yet to be fully investigated, the vision and key elements of the 6th generation (6G) ecosystem have already come into discussion. In order to contribute to these efforts and delineate the security and privacy aspects of 6G networks, we survey how security may impact the envisioned 6G wireless systems with the possible challenges and potential solutions. Especially, we discuss the security and privacy challenges that may emerge with the 6G requirements, novel network architecture, applications and enabling technologies including distributed ledger technologies, physical layer security, distributed artificial intelligence (AI)/ machine learning (ML), Visible Light Communication (VLC), THz bands, and quantum communication

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The Roadmap to 6G Security and Privacy

2021-05-10, Porambage, Pawani, Gur, Gurkan, Osorio, Diana Pamela Moya, Liyanage, Madhusanka, Gurtov, Andrei, Ylianttila, Mika

Although the fifth generation (5G) wireless networks are yet to be fully investigated, the visionaries of the 6th generation (6G) echo systems have already come into the discussion. Therefore, in order to consolidate and solidify the security and privacy in 6G networks, we survey how security may impact the envisioned 6G wireless systems, possible challenges with different 6G technologies, and the potential solutions. We provide our vision on 6G security and security key performance indicators (KPIs) with the tentative threat landscape based on the foreseen 6G network architecture. Moreover, we discuss the security and privacy challenges that may encounter with the available 6G requirements and potential 6G applications. We also give the reader some insights into the standardization efforts and research-level projects relevant to 6G security. In particular, we discuss the security considerations with 6G enabling technologies such as distributed ledger technology (DLT), physical layer security, distributed AI/ML, visible light communication (VLC), THz, and quantum computing. All in all, this work intends to provide enlightening guidance for the subsequent research of 6G security and privacy at this initial phase of vision towards reality.

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Blockchain-based Automated Certificate Revocation for 5G IoT

2020-06-11, Hewa, Tharaka, Braecken, An, Ylianttila, Mika, Liyanage, Madhusanka

Internet of Things (IoT) is a key topic of interest in modern communication context with the evolution of 5G and beyond ecosystems. 5G will interconnects billions of IoT devices wirelessly. The wireless communication exposes the devices to massive security risks in different dimensions. The Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is one of the promising solutions to eliminate security risks. It ensures the authentication and communication integrity by using public key certificates. However, the overhead of certificate storage is a significant problem for the resource constrained IoT devices. We propose an application of Elliptic Curve Qu Vanstone (ECQV) certificates, which are lightweight in size for the resource restricted IoT devices. Furthermore, we incorporate the blockchain based smart contracts to handle the certificate related operations. We utilize the smart contracts in the certificate issuance and developed a smart contract based threat scoring mechanism to automatically revoke the certificates. The lightweight nature of ECQV certificates enables the distributed ledger to store, update, and revoke the certificates. We evaluated the proposed solution in Hyperledger Fabric blockchain platform.

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Robust and Resilient Federated Learning for Securing Future Networks

2022-06-10, Siriwardhana, Yushan, Porambage, Pawani, Liyanage, Madhusanka, Ylianttila, Mika

Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques are widely adopted in the telecommunication industry, especially to automate beyond 5G networks. Federated Learning (FL) recently emerged as a distributed ML approach that enables localized model training to keep data decentralized to ensure data privacy. In this paper, we identify the applicabil- ity of FL for securing future networks and its limitations due to the vulnerability to poisoning attacks. First, we investigate the shortcomings of state-of-the-art security algorithms for FL and perform an attack to circumvent FoolsGold algorithm, which is known as one of the most promising defense techniques currently available. The attack is launched with the addition of intelligent noise at the poisonous model updates. Then we propose a more sophisticated defense strategy, a threshold-based clustering mechanism to complement FoolsGold. Moreover, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the attack scenario and the performance of the defense mechanism.

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A Survey on Mobile Augmented Reality with 5G Mobile Edge Computing: Architectures, Applications and Technical Aspects

2021-02-25, Siriwardhana, Yushan, Porambage, Pawani, Liyanage, Madhusanka, Ylianttila, Mika

The Augmented Reality (AR) technology enhances the human perception of the world by combining the real environment with the virtual space. With the explosive growth of powerful, less expensive mobile devices, and the emergence of sophisticated communication infrastructure, Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) applications are gaining increased popularity. MAR allows users to run AR applications on mobile devices with greater mobility and at a lower cost. The emerging 5G communication technologies act as critical enablers for future MAR applications to achieve ultra-low latency and extremely high data rates while Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) brings enhanced computational power closer to the users to complement MAR. This paper extensively discusses the landscape of MAR through the past and its future prospects with respect to the 5G systems and complementary technology MEC. The paper especially provides an informative analysis of the network formation of current and future MAR systems in terms of cloud, edge, localized, and hybrid architectural options. The paper discusses key application areas for MAR and their future with the advent of 5G technologies. The paper also discusses the requirements and limitations of MAR technical aspects such as communication, mobility management, energy management, service offloading and migration, security, and privacy and analyzes the role of 5G technologies.

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Performance Analysis of Local 5G Operator Architectures for Industrial Internet

2020-12, Siriwardhana, Yushan, Porambage, Pawani, Ylianttila, Mika, Liyanage, Madhusanka

5G calls for a network architecture that ensures ultra-responsive and ultra-reliable communication links, in addition to the high degree of flexibility and customization required by different vertical sectors. The novel concept called local 5G networks enables a versatile set of stakeholders to operate 5G networks within their premises with guaranteed quality and reliability to complement Mobile Network Operators’ (MNOs) offerings. In this paper, we propose a descriptive architecture for a local 5G operator which provides user specific and location specific services in a spatially confined environment i.e. industrial internet environment. In addition to that, we propose hybrid architecture options where both the local 5G operator and MNO collaboratively contribute to establishing the core network to cater to such communications. The architecture is discussed in terms of network functions and the operational units which entail the core and radio access networks in a smart factory environment which supports Industry 4.0 standards. Moreover, to realize the conceptual design, we provide simulation results for the latency measurements of the proposed architecture options with respect to an Augmented Reality (AR), massive wireless sensor networks and mobile robots use cases. Thereby we discuss the benefits of deploying core network functions locally to cater to specialized user requirements, rather than continuing with the conventional approach where only MNOs can deploy cellular networks.

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AGE: authentication in gadget-free healthcare environments

2019-10-03, Kumar, Tanesh, Braeken, An, Jurcut, Anca Delia, Liyanage, Madhusanka, Ylianttila, Mika

Mobile and sensor related technologies are significantly revolutionizing the medical healthcare sectors. In current healthcare systems, gadgets are the prominent way of acquiring medical services. However, the recent technological advancements in smart and ambient environments are offering users new ways to access the healthcare services without using any explicit gadgets. One of the key challenges in such gadget-free environments is performing secure user authentication with the intelligent surroundings. For example, a secure, efficient and user-friendly authentication mechanism is essential for elderly/disabled people or patients in critical conditions requiring medical services. Hence, modern authentication systems should be sophisticated enough to identify such patients without requiring their physical efforts or placing gadgets on them. This paper proposes an anonymous and privacy-preserving biometrics based authentication scheme for such gadget-free healthcare environment. We performed formal security verification of our proposed scheme using CDVT/AD tool and our results indicate that the proposed scheme is secure for such smart and gadget-free environments. We verify that the proposed scheme can resist against various well-known security attacks. Moreover, the proposed system showed better performance as compared with existing biometrics base remote user authentication schemes.