A Probabilistic Trust Model and Control Algorithm to Protect 6G Networks against Malicious Data Injection Attacks in Edge Computing Environments

Future 6G communications are envisioned to enable a large catalogue of pioneering applications.These will range from networked Cyber-Physical Systems to edge computing devices,establishing real-time feedback control loops critical for managing Industry 5.0 deployments,digital agriculture systems,and essential infrastructures.The provision of extensive machine-type communications through 6G will render many of these innovative systems autonomous and unsupervised.While full automation will enhance industrial efficiency significantly,it concurrently introduces new cyber risks and vulnerabilities.In particular,unattended systems are highly susceptible to trust issues:malicious nodes and false information can be easily introduced into control loops.Additionally,Denialof-Service attacks can be executed by inundating the network with valueless noise.Current anomaly detection schemes require the entire transformation of the control software to integrate new steps and can only mitigate anomalies that conform to predefined mathematical models.Solutions based on an exhaustive data collection to detect anomalies are precise but extremely slow.Standard models,with their limited understanding of mobile networks,can achieve precision rates no higher than 75%.Therefore,more general and transversal protection mechanisms are needed to detect malicious behaviors transparently.This paper introduces a probabilistic trust model and control algorithm designed to address this gap.The model determines the probability of any node to be trustworthy.Communication channels are pruned for those nodes whose probability is below a given threshold.The trust control algorithmcomprises three primary phases,which feed themodel with three different probabilities,which are weighted and combined.Initially,anomalous nodes are identified using Gaussian mixture models and clustering technologies.Next,traffic patterns are studied using digital Bessel functions and the functional scalar product.Finally,the information coherence and content are analyzed.The noise content and abnormal information sequences are detected using a Volterra filter and a bank of Finite Impulse Response filters.An experimental validation based on simulation tools and environments was carried out.Results show the proposed solution can successfully detect up to 92%of malicious data injection attacks.

Towards Fully Secure 5G Ultra-Low Latency Communications: A Cost-Security Functions Analysis

Future components to enhance the basic,native security of 5G networks are either complex mechanisms whose impact in the requiring 5G communications are not considered,or lightweight solutions adapted to ultrareliable low-latency communications(URLLC)but whose security properties remain under discussion.Although different 5G network slices may have different requirements,in general,both visions seem to fall short at provisioning secure URLLC in the future.In this work we address this challenge,by introducing cost-security functions as a method to evaluate the performance and adequacy of most developed and employed non-native enhanced security mechanisms in 5G networks.We categorize those new security components into different groups according to their purpose and deployment scope.We propose to analyze them in the context of existing 5G architectures using two different approaches.First,using model checking techniques,we will evaluate the probability of an attacker to be successful against each security solution.Second,using analytical models,we will analyze the impact of these security mechanisms in terms of delay,throughput consumption,and reliability.Finally,we will combine both approaches using stochastic cost-security functions and the PRISM model checker to create a global picture.Our results are first evidence of how a 5G network that covers and strengthened all security areas through enhanced,dedicated non-native mechanisms could only guarantee secure URLLC with a probability of∼55%.

Stochastic Models to Mitigate Sparse Sensor Attacks in Continuous-Time Non-Linear Cyber-Physical Systems

Cyber-Physical Systems are very vulnerable to sparse sensor attacks.But current protection mechanisms employ linear and deterministic models which cannot detect attacks precisely.Therefore,in this paper,we propose a new non-linear generalized model to describe Cyber-Physical Systems.This model includes unknown multivariable discrete and continuous-time functions and different multiplicative noises to represent the evolution of physical processes and randomeffects in the physical and computationalworlds.Besides,the digitalization stage in hardware devices is represented too.Attackers and most critical sparse sensor attacks are described through a stochastic process.The reconstruction and protectionmechanisms are based on aweighted stochasticmodel.Error probability in data samples is estimated through different indicators commonly employed in non-linear dynamics(such as the Fourier transform,first-return maps,or the probability density function).A decision algorithm calculates the final reconstructed value considering the previous error probability.An experimental validation based on simulation tools and real deployments is also carried out.Both,the new technology performance and scalability are studied.Results prove that the proposed solution protects Cyber-Physical Systems against up to 92%of attacks and perturbations,with a computational delay below 2.5 s.The proposed model shows a linear complexity,as recursive or iterative structures are not employed,just algebraic and probabilistic functions.In conclusion,the new model and reconstructionmechanism can protect successfully Cyber-Physical Systems against sparse sensor attacks,even in dense or pervasive deployments and scenarios.