The open radio access network (O-RAN) is recognized for its modularity and adaptability, facilitating swift responses to emerging applications and technological advancements. However, this architecture's disaggregated nature, coupled with support from various vendors, introduces new security challenges. This paper proposes an innovative approach to bolster the security of future O-RAN deployments by leveraging RAN slicing principles. Central to this security enhancement is the concept of secure slicing. We introduce SliceX, an xApp designed to safeguard RAN resources while ensuring strict throughput and latency requirements are met for legitimate users. Leveraging the open artificial intelligence cellular re-search (OAIC) platform, we observed that the network latency averages around ten microseconds in a default configuration without SliceX. The latency escalates to over seven seconds in the presence of a malicious user equipment (UE) flooding the net-work with requests. SliceX intervenes, restoring network latency to normal levels, with a maximum latency of approximately 2.3 s. These and other numerical findings presented in this paper affirm the tangible advantages of SliceX in mitigating security threats and ensuring that 0- RAN deployments meet stringent performance requirements. Our research demonstrates the real-world effectiveness of secure slicing, making SliceX a valuable tool for military, government, and critical infrastructure opera-tors reliant on public wireless communication networks to fulfill their security, resiliency, and performance objectives.
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Demo: SSxApp: Secure Slicing for O-RAN Deployments
This demonstration explores the security concerns in 5G and beyond networks within open radio access network (O-RAN) deployments, focusing on active attacks disrupting cellular communications. An xApp developed on the open artificial intelligence cellular (OAIC) platform enables on-the-fly creation and management of network slices to mitigate such attacks. The xApp is hosted in the near-real time RAN
intelligent controller (RIC) and establishes secure slices for the software radio network it controls. This solution presents a practical approach for resilient and secure network management in dynamic environments.
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- PAR ID:
- 10479470
- Publisher / Repository:
- IEEE/ieeeXplore
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- MILCOM IEEE Military Communications Conference
- ISSN:
- 2155-7586
- ISBN:
- 979-8-3503-2181-4
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- 6G, network intelligence, O-RAN, security, slicing, srsRAN, testbed, xApp
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Boston, MA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/MILCOM58377.2023.10356385
