Biblio

Network slicing is considered a key enabler to 5th Generation (5G) communication networks. Mobile network operators may deploy network slices-complete logical networks customized for specific services expecting a certain Quality of Service (QoS). New business models like Network Slice-as-a-Service offerings to customers from vertical industries require negotiated Service Level Agreements (SLA), and network providers need automated enforcement mechanisms to assure QoS during instantiation and operation of slices. In this paper, we focus on ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC). We propose a software architecture for security functions based on off-the-shelf hardware and open-source software and demonstrate, through a series of measurements, that the strict requirements of URLLC services can be achieved. As a real-world example, we perform our experiments using the intrusion prevention system (IPS) Snort to demonstrate the impact of security functions on latency. Our findings lead to the creation of a model predicting the system load that still meets the URLLC latency requirement. We fully disclose the artifacts presented in this paper including pcap traces, measurement tools, and plotting scripts at https://gallenmu.github.io/low-latency.

The concept of network slicing in 5G mobile networks introduces new challenges for security management: Given the combination of Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud providers, mobile network operators as Software-as-a-Service providers, and the various verticals as customers, multi-layer and multi-tenancy-capable management architectures are required. This paper addresses the challenges for correlation of security events in such 5G scenarios with a focus on event processing at telecommunication service providers. After an analysis of the specific demand for network-slice-centric security event correlation in 5G networks, ongoing standardization efforts, and related research, we propose a multi-tenancy-capable event correlation architecture along with a scalable information model. The event processing, alerting, and correlation workflow is discussed and has been implemented in a network and security management system prototype, leading to a demonstration of first results acquired in a lab setup.