A Built-in Hash Permutation Assisted Cross-layer Secure Transport in End-to-End FlexE over WDM Networks

With the traffic growth with different deterministic transport and isolation requirements in radio access networks (RAN), Flexible Ethernet (FlexE) over wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) network is as a candidate for next generation RAN transport, and the security issue in RAN transport is much more obvious, especially the eavesdropping attack in physical layer. Therefore, in this work, we put forward a cross-layer design for security enhancement through leveraging universal Hashing based FlexE data block permutation and multiple parallel fibre transmission for anti-eavesdropping in end-to-end FlexE over WDM network. Different levels of attack ability are considered for measuring the impact on network security and resource utilization. Furthermore, the trade-off problem between efficient resource utilization and guarantee of higher level of security is also explored. Numerical results demonstrate the cross-layer defense strategies are effective to struggle against intruders with different levels of attack ability.