A Survey of Physical Layer Security Techniques for 5G Wireless Networks and Challenges Ahead

Physical layer security which safeguards data confidentiality based on the information-theoretic approaches has received significant research interest recently. The key idea behind physical layer security is to utilize the intrinsic randomness of the transmission channel to guarantee the security in physical layer. The evolution towards 5G wireless communications poses new challenges for physical layer security research. This paper provides a latest survey of the physical layer security research on various promising 5G technologies, including physical layer security coding, massive multiple-input multiple-output, millimeter wave communications, heterogeneous networks, non-orthogonal multiple access, full duplex technology, etc. Technical challenges which remain unresolved at the time of writing are summarized and the future trends of physical layer security in 5G and beyond are discussed.Comment: To appear in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communication

Full-Duplex Cloud Radio Access Network: Stochastic Design and Analysis

Full-duplex (FD) has emerged as a disruptive communications paradigm for enhancing the achievable spectral efficiency (SE), thanks to the recent major breakthroughs in self-interference (SI) mitigation. The FD versus half-duplex (HD) SE gain, in cellular networks, is however largely limited by the mutual-interference (MI) between the downlink (DL) and the uplink (UL). A potential remedy for tackling the MI bottleneck is through cooperative communications. This paper provides a stochastic design and analysis of FD enabled cloud radio access network (C-RAN) under the Poisson point process (PPP)-based abstraction model of multi-antenna radio units (RUs) and user equipments (UEs). We consider different disjoint and user-centric approaches towards the formation of finite clusters in the C-RAN. Contrary to most existing studies, we explicitly take into consideration non-isotropic fading channel conditions and finite-capacity fronthaul links. Accordingly, upper-bound expressions for the C-RAN DL and UL SEs, involving the statistics of all intended and interfering signals, are derived. The performance of the FD C-RAN is investigated through the proposed theoretical framework and Monte-Carlo (MC) simulations. The results indicate that significant FD versus HD C-RAN SE gains can be achieved, particularly in the presence of sufficient-capacity fronthaul links and advanced interference cancellation capabilities

D 3. 3 Final performance results and consolidated view on the most promising multi -node/multi -antenna transmission technologies

This document provides the most recent updates on the technical contributions and research challenges focused in WP3. Each Technology Component (TeC) has been evaluated under possible uniform assessment framework of WP3 which is based on the simulation guidelines of WP6. The performance assessment is supported by the simulation results which are in their mature and stable state. An update on the Most Promising Technology Approaches (MPTAs) and their associated TeCs is the main focus of this document. Based on the input of all the TeCs in WP3, a consolidated view of WP3 on the role of multinode/multi-antenna transmission technologies in 5G systems has also been provided. This consolidated view is further supported in this document by the presentation of the impact of MPTAs on METIS scenarios and the addressed METIS goals.Aziz, D.; Baracca, P.; De Carvalho, E.; Fantini, R.; Rajatheva, N.; Popovski, P.; Sørensen, JH.... (2015). D 3. 3 Final performance results and consolidated view on the most promising multi -node/multi -antenna transmission technologies. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/7675

Identification and Mitigation of Information Leakage Caused by Side Channel Vulnerabilities in Network Stack

Keeping users sensitive information secure and private in todays network is challenging. Networks are large, complicated distributed systems and are subject to a wide variety of attacks, such as eavesdropping, identity spoofing, hijacking, etc. What is worse, encrypting data is often not enough in light of advanced threats such as side channel attacks, which enable malicious attackers to infer sensitive data from insignificant network information unexpectedly. For this purpose, we pro- pose series of techniques to prevent such information leakage at different layers in network stacks, and raise awareness of its severity. More specifically, 1) we propose a practical physical (PHY) layer security framework FOG, for effective packet header obfuscation using MIMO, to keep eavesdroppers from receiving any meaningful packet information; 2) we identify and fix a subtle yet serious pure off-path side channel vulnerability (CVE-2016-5696) introduced in both TCP specification and its implementation in Linux kernel, which prevents malicious attackers from exploiting it to indicate arbitrary connections state, reset the connection or even further hijack the connection; 3) we propose a principled TCP side channel vulnerability discovery solution based on model checking and program analysis, and automatically identify 12 new side channel vulnerabilities (and 3 old ones) from TCP implementation in Linux and FreeBSD kernel code. The ultimate goal is to help guide the future design and implementation of network stacks.Keeping users’ sensitive information secure and private in today’s network is challenging. Network nowadays are subject to a wide variety of attacks, such as eavesdropping, identity spoofing, denial of service, etc. What is worse, encrypting sensitive data is often not enough in light of advanced threats such as side channel attacks, which enable malicious attackers to infer sensitive data from “insignificant” network information unexpectedly. For this purpose, we propose series of techniques to prevent such information leakage at different layers in network stack, and raise awareness of its severity. In our first work, we propose a practical physical (PHY) layer security framework FOG, for effective packet header obfuscation using MIMO, to prevent eavesdroppers from receiving any packet headers to profile users. Secondly, we identify and fix a subtle yet serious pure off-path side channel vulnerability (CVE-2016-5696) introduced in both TCP specification and its implementation in Linux kernel. This vulnerability allows malicious attackers to indicate arbitrary TCP connection’s state, reset the connection or even further hijack the connection. Motivated by the fact that most previous TCP side channel vulnerabilities are manually identified, in our last work, we propose a principled TCP side channel vulnerability discovery solution based on model checking and program analysis. It automatically identifies 12 new side channel vulnerabilities (and 3 old ones) from TCP implementation in Linux and FreeBSD kernel code. The ultimate goal of my research is to help guide the future design and implementation of network stacks

Augmenting Wireless Security Using Zero-Forcing Beamforming

We present the design and experimental evaluation of Simultaneous TRansmissions with Orthogonally Blinded Eavesdroppers (STROBE). STROBE is a cross-layer approach that exploits the multi-stream capabilities of existing technologies such as 802.11n and the upcoming 802.11ac standard where multi-antenna APs construct simultaneous data streams using Zero-Forcing Beamforming (ZFBF). Instead of using this technique for simultaneous data stream generation, STROBE utilizes ZFBF by allowing an AP to use one stream to communicate with an intended user and the remaining streams to orthogonally "blind" (actively interfere) with any potential eavesdropper thereby preventing eavesdroppers from decoding nearby transmissions. Through extensive experimental evaluation, we show that STROBE reliably outperforms Omnidirectional, Single-User Beamforming (SUBF), and directional antenna based transmission methods by keeping the transmitted signal at the intended receiver and shielded from eavesdroppers. In an indoor Wireless LAN environment, STROBE consistently serves an intended user with a signal 15 dB stronger than an eavesdropper

A Survey on Security and Privacy of 5G Technologies: Potential Solutions, Recent Advancements, and Future Directions

Security has become the primary concern in many telecommunications industries today as risks can have high consequences. Especially, as the core and enable technologies will be associated with 5G network, the confidential information will move at all layers in future wireless systems. Several incidents revealed that the hazard encountered by an infected wireless network, not only affects the security and privacy concerns, but also impedes the complex dynamics of the communications ecosystem. Consequently, the complexity and strength of security attacks have increased in the recent past making the detection or prevention of sabotage a global challenge. From the security and privacy perspectives, this paper presents a comprehensive detail on the core and enabling technologies, which are used to build the 5G security model; network softwarization security, PHY (Physical) layer security and 5G privacy concerns, among others. Additionally, the paper includes discussion on security monitoring and management of 5G networks. This paper also evaluates the related security measures and standards of core 5G technologies by resorting to different standardization bodies and provide a brief overview of 5G standardization security forces. Furthermore, the key projects of international significance, in line with the security concerns of 5G and beyond are also presented. Finally, a future directions and open challenges section has included to encourage future research.European CommissionNational Research Tomsk Polytechnic UniversityUpdate citation details during checkdate report - A