Project Aims

For 20 years, 3G and 4G mobile networks have allowed users to receive service anywhere, at any time. The dawning, visionary 5th generation mobile network (5G) aims to make telecommunications ubiquitous by using a decentralised architecture, including a massive Internet of Things (mIoT) and a non-federated core network.

An important difference between current and future mobile architectures is the variety of devices for which security solutions must be found. Current mobile phones are vulnerable to many attacks, such as malware, Denial-of-Service (DoS), tracking, and cryptographic attacks [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. Future networks will include IoT devices, which are even more attack-prone, and can be used as “tools” in cyber-attacks [7], [8], and [9]. The transition to 5G networks is expected to not only combine, but to compound risks to all types of devices.

MobiS5 aims to counter security threats in 5G architectures by providing a provably-secure crypto-graphic toolbox for 5G networks, validated formally and experimentally, addressing 5G architectures at 3 levels:

Infrastructure and physical end-point security: We will be looking, on the one hand, at how to provide security and data-privacy in the new, non-federated and semi-trusted 5G core network; on the other hand, we will investigate the impact of physical attacks on resource-limited embedded devices that will be part of 5G networks.
Cryptographic primitives and protocols: We will focus on two types of cryptographic countermeasures (and their ightweight counterparts): basic cryptographic protocols like authenticated encryption and AKE, enabling end user authentication, communication protection, and compliance with regulations (such as LI); and protocols for secure aided computation on lightweight devices, and proxy re-encryption schemes that allow controlled malleability.
Mobile applications: We choose to analyze two specific use-cases, which put into focus the widespread expected use of 5G networks: the use of a secure server as a tool for aiding and delegating computations for smaller devices; and the security and privacy of smart homes.