NSF Convergence Accelerator Track G: 5G Traffic Sovereignty: Operating Through an Adversarial Internet

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

5G wireless technology has the potential to transform DOD mission-critical operations, but taking full advantage of this opportunity requires new techniques to operate through commercial networks worldwide. Connecting mission-critical devices to commercial 5G networks will transform DOD communications, but it also increases the attack surface for sensitive and critical communications by exposing the traffic to the Internet at large. Nation-states have nearly inexhaustible resources to disrupt traffic or passively recognize communications patterns via network infrastructure under their control, and the verified-trust paradigm in a zero-trust architecture cannot prevent these attacks. Any secure communication solution in the 5G space must account for adversarial Internet paths that traverse networks and routers that are potentially controlled by adversary nation-states. In essence, operating through 5G networks requires not just focusing on the wireless last hop, but also the Internet paths to reach the last hop. This project combines three components to create an unprecedented ability to leverage commercial 5G networks for secure and resilient communication. The first component takes advantage of programmable data planes to facilitate path measurements – and shift communications onto trustworthy paths – without modifying DOD applications, existing network devices, or third-party networks. Component 2 creates an automated measurement application that interfaces with the router from Component 1 to identify router-level paths that avoid adversaries, as well as verify in real-time that communication paths for active flows behave as expected. Component 3 will recommend ways for DOD to expand the availability of secure communication paths to 5G networks. This last component will identify high-value networks whose inclusion in an industry zone-of-trust could benefit DOD, and apply existing geopolitical influence frameworks to evaluate trustworthy communication paths between DOD and geographic regions. Tackling this problem requires convergence research across six areas of expertise: network measurement for path assessment; 5G communication and transport; programmable switch implementation; realistic evaluation platforms; security constraints of 5G-connected infrastructure; and geopolitical influence and strategy in the cyber domain. This interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration targets a persistently unsolved challenge that the 5G ecosystem amplifies in importance: automatic selection of communication paths with 5G devices to avoid networks, locations, or hardware potentially controlled by a nation-state adversary. This project will provide broad impact by complementing zero-trust architectures and secure 5G implementations, and by offering a transformative approach to how DoD and critical infrastructure can operate through the exploding yet dangerously opaque 5G ecosystem. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.