Tag: security

Recently, security has been pointed out as one of the critical aspects moving forward within the O-RAN domain. Expanded threat surface, as well as specific security challenges and opportunities, have been identified. This whitepaper provides an overview of security topics in O-RAN, specifically in 5G/6G mobile radio networks. We also consider artificial intelligence embedded in the network edge as a great tool to support security. We present some xApps applied to detect and mitigate example attacks. Conclusions and a discussion on the directions of future developments follow this.

Signaling Storm is a specific case of DoS or DDoS attack identified by the O-RAN ALLIANCE to be addressed by xApps. When firing this kind of attack, devices authorized (or not) to access the network make repeated attempts to connect to the network, "clogging up" the RACH. In addition, due to the multi-stage nature of the hand-shaking procedure, a whole range of redundant control information is generated in the access and core network. It is, therefore, essential to quickly locate the source of this threat and decide to reject the connection request at an early stage of registration. In this blog, we present a signaling storm detection approach and a proposed algorithm to be implemented as an xApp for O-RAN RIC.

The operating patterns of adversaries attacking the open radio interface are complicated and not obvious, e.g., an adversary carrying out a jamming attack may change the attacked band or periodically interrupt jamming. The prospective defense algorithms should be able to not only detect anomalies but also adapt to a variety of attack mechanisms. This can be done by AI/ML methods, which have been researched over the last years. In this post, we present an AI/ML-based jamming attack detection and analysis mechanism for Near-RT RIC.

This year, the most crucial topics for further development in O-RAN are security and energy efficiency. In this blog post, we investigate how different players of the O-RAN ecosystem look at the security topic. Those include O-RAN ALLIANCE, the telecommunication business (including operators and providers), governmental bodies, IEEE, and academic researchers.

When talking about future RAN security, one has to consider threats related to the radio segment of a network, and the expanded attack surface, due to the open architecture and interfaces in O-RAN. Those should be expanded by a discussion on AI algorithms security, as AI is to be embedded in multiple network tiers starting from UE, gNB at the edge of the network in the MEC module and in a cloud. In this post, present considerations on threats and opportunities that O-RAN specifications create for network security to deliberations on how AI at the network edge can, on one hand, be a target of attacks, and on the other, increase the network security.

When it comes to the security of 5G networks, most of the attention of researchers, engineers, and practitioners are focused on cybersecurity, although attacks on the software itself are not the only problem. This blog post discusses RAN-related aspects for 5G/6G security including architecture-related risks, cybersecurity best practices, MEC, and O-RAN security opportunities.