5G competition is not just about speed, security mechanisms need to be clarified

Currently, 5G standardization has been fully launched, and 3GPP SA2 will complete the research work on 5G network architecture by the end of 2016. However, 5G is not only fast, but also safe. Experts point out that it is urgent to clarify the security requirements of 5G networks as soon as possible in order to finally achieve the goal of building a more secure and reliable new 5G network.

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Earlier, Liu Lihua, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, revealed at a 5G information and communication technology seminar that the current 5G standardization work has been fully launched, and the research and development experiment work has entered the critical stage. The second phase of 5G network testing will be launched in 2017, and 5G commercial use is expected to be launched in 2020.

The new development trends of 5G networks, especially new 5G services, new architectures, and new technologies, will pose new challenges to security and user privacy protection.

"In addition to meeting basic communication security requirements, 5G security mechanisms also need to provide differentiated security services for different business scenarios, adapt to a variety of network access methods and new network architectures, protect user privacy, and support the provision of open security capabilities," said Li Xiayu of CATR Technology and Standards Institute, which focuses on wireless and mobile research.

It is understood that the main difference between 5G eMBB scenarios and traditional mobile Internet scenarios is that they provide users with high-speed network speeds and high-density capacity, so there will be a large number of small stations (small cells, femtocells). The deployment methods, deployment conditions and functions of small stations are flexible and diverse. The traditional 4G security mechanism does not consider the security threats in this dense networking scenario. Therefore, in addition to the security threats in the traditional mobile Internet, there may be security threats to the access of small stations in this dense networking scenario.

For large-scale IoT scenarios, it is estimated that by 2020, there will be 50 billion connected devices. Terminals include IoT terminals, RFID tags, short-range wireless communication terminals, mobile communication terminals, cameras, and sensor network gateways. Since most IoT terminals have limited resources, dynamically changing topologies, complex network environments, data-centricity, and close relevance to applications, they are more vulnerable to threats and attacks than traditional wireless networks. In this case of massive devices, in order to ensure the accuracy and validity of information, it is necessary to introduce security mechanisms in machine communications. If each message of each device needs to be authenticated separately, the verification of network-side security signaling will consume a lot of resources. The traditional 4G network authentication mechanism does not take into account this problem of massive authentication signaling. Once the network receives terminal signaling requests that exceed the processing capacity of the network's various signaling resources, a signaling storm will be triggered, causing network service problems. Furthermore, the entire mobile communication system may fail and then collapse.

Li Xiayu introduced that in the future, 5G security will provide all-round security protection based on more diverse scenarios, multiple access methods and new network architectures. In addition to meeting basic communication security requirements, 5G security mechanisms can provide differentiated security services for different business scenarios, adapt to multiple network access methods and new network architectures, protect user privacy, and support the provision of open security capabilities.

At a recent public meeting, senior executives from Nokia and Shanghai Bell said, "5G will face new security challenges." Currently, 5G standardization has been fully launched. According to the deployment of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the 5G layout of the three major operators, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom will start 5G network construction in 2018. The first phase will cover major cities in China, and the second phase will cover major regions across the country.

Market analysts believe that based on past experience, the investment in network construction in the first two phases of the three major operators will not be less than that of 4G network construction, and the total amount will exceed 300 billion yuan. With the official release of the timetable for 5G commercial use in my country, the trillion-dollar market will undoubtedly attract competition from capital forces. At that time, the competition will not only be about "speed", but more importantly, it will be necessary to build a more secure and reliable 5G new network to meet the massive demand for future mobile Internet and Internet of Things applications.