A Comprehensive Guide to 5G Security

9Customer Edge Switching: A Security Framework for 5G

Hammad Kabir, Raimo Kantola, and Jesus Llorente Santos

Department of Communication and Networking, Aalto University, Finland

9.1 Introduction

5G is the next phase in the evolution of mobile networks. The recent ITU‐T statistics [1] reveal that active mobile broadband subscriptions are on the rise, and have overtaken both fixed broadband subscriptions and individuals connected to the Internet. This segment is rapidly growing and expectedly the number of Internet‐connected wireless devices will rise. The initial estimates for 5G are to handle 100 devices per inhabitant of the world, and that data traffic will grow 1000‐fold from the years 2010 to 2020. However, besides faster mobile broadband and increased capacity, 5G will have to support new trust models, service delivery models, use cases and withstand challenges from an evolved threat landscape [2].

The divergent requirements of different use cases will require the ability to tailor the network to meet the particular use‐case requirements, for example with respect to reliability, services availability and level of security. For this, the concept of network slicing is proposed. A network slice is a set of resources and communication nodes handling a significant user or device segment with intended coverage area. Compared to provisioning such communication through regular mobile broadband access, in the slice, the network control and data planes can be enhanced with additional ...