Security Testbed for Next Generation Mobile Networks

Abstract

Next-generation of mobile networks, 5G, is expected to support diverse requirements in three broad categories: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communication (mMTC), and ultra-reliable and low latency communication (uRLLC). 5G will act as an enabler for a large variety of applications such as autonomous vehicles, telesurgery, industrial communications, AR/VR, smart cities, etc. SDN, NFV and network slicing are some of the key enabling technologies in realizing a flexible 5G network architecture. Using these novel technologies to support a wide array of use cases, brings in a new set of challenges in providing security and privacy. It is therefore imperative to conduct rigorous cybersecurity analysis on different aspects of the network. In this paper, we propose a security testbed for next-generation mobile networks, which will allow us to conduct various security analyses that are transparent and easy to replicate. It will also allow us to execute a simulated cyber-attack and measure or compare how well a defense mechanism is performing. Our testbed leverages various opensource projects such as Open Source MANO (OSM), ONOS, and OpenStack.