The Service-Based Architecture (SBA) of the fifth generation (5G) of cellular networks introduced great advancements in flexibility, efficiency, and performance of modern networks, thanks to the distribution and softwarization of core network entities called Network Functions (NFs). Due to the distributed nature of 5G systems, these NFs are usually located in different sites to provide better Quality of Service (QoS) or specific services, which poses a great challenge regarding security. However, even though the 3GPP standard identifies security requirements by leveraging Transport Layer Security (TLS) authentication and OAuth2.0 authorization, current experimental and commercial deployments often disregard these aspects for the sake of simplicity and performance. In fact, even though data and communication protection is crucial, the implementation of security protocols and mechanisms complicates the deployments and may reduce the efficiency of 5G systems. This paper presents a novel solution that implements TLS for authentication and encryption leveraging entanglement-based Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), ensuring that all the communications between NFs in the 5G core network are secured by QKD keys, and are therefore quantum-safe. Additionally, this paper presents a QKD key repository using the Network Repository Function (NRF), which stores and relays TLS session keys to authenticated consumer NFs to access producer NFs in a fast but quantum-safe process. The solution was validated in a real hardware environment, and obtained results demonstrate that the proposed solution enhances the security of the SBA communications in an efficient way, reducing an 85% the service request time compared to the traditional TLS-based procedure, as well as 29.96% fewer bytes transmitted throughout the process.

Network softwarization has significantly evolved since programmable data planes became topical in academia and industry. Programming Protocol-Independent Packet Processors (P4) is a language to define packet forwarding behavior. Forwarding devices that are programmed with the P4 language support a flexible way to define headers, parse graphs, and data plane logic. However, extending the data plane with additional functionalities has an impact on packet data plane latency. For this reason, this paper analyzes the key factors that affect data pane latency to packets processed by the Tofino-based target (Tofino Native Architecture (TNA)), which can be considered the de facto production-ready and P4-programmable Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). Our work first provides an extensive set of latency measurements and, afterwards, it includes a set of data plane latency predictions using the model derived from the latency results and machine learning (ML) algorithms. We demonstrate that the PCA-lasso polynomial (PLP) obtains the best results among the algorithms tested. The best-case results show that PLP obtained an accuracy of 98.22% prediction accuracy when considering the parser, deparser, and the control block for traffic running at 10 G/s (SFP+) and 100 G/s (QSFP28). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that provides such a comprehensive profiling, including a method to predict data plane latency in production-grade Tofino ASIC-based switching hardware, which could be leveraged to yield accurate latency values prior to investment and deployment.

Quick handling of link failures remains a challenging issue in current communication networks, although it is crucial to many routing algorithms. Link failures are the leading cause of packet losses and delays, therefore, failure recovery is tied to stringent requirements for certain services, such as the sub-50 millisecond completion time for carrier-grade networks, which is sometimes difficult to achieve in traditional routing schemes. For this reason, fast recovery strategies are key pillars of modern communication networks. In this paper, we demonstrate the benefits of the devices with Programmable Data Planes (PDP) for fast reacting to link failures. We first review the link failure detection, reaction and recovery procedures and then we discuss the main fast failure recovery mechanisms employed by different types of devices in current communication networks. In addition, we present a novel method to measure the link failure reaction time of an Intel Tofino switch with PDP, as well as the results obtained when measuring such time using real hardware equipment. Our results show that such hardware devices provide a failure reaction time in the order of microseconds, with an average of 472.88 μs, which poses PDP as a key technology to achieve zero packet loss and zero delay failure recovery.

The use of advanced communications and smart mechanisms in industry is growing rapidly, making cybersecurity a critical aspect. Currently, most industrial communication protocols rely on the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol to build their secure version, providing confidentiality, integrity and authentication. In the case of UDP-based communications, frequently used in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) scenarios, the counterpart of TLS is Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS), which includes some mechanisms to deal with the high unreliability of the transport layer. However, the (D)TLS handshake is a heavy process, specially for resource-deprived IIoT devices and frequently, security is sacrificed in favour of performance. More specifically, the validation of digital certificates is an expensive process from the time and resource consumption point of view. For this reason, digital certificates are not always properly validated by IIoT devices, including the verification of their revocation status; and when it is done, it introduces an important delay in the communications. In this context, this paper presents the design and implementation of an in-network server certificate validation system that offloads this task from the constrained IIoT devices to a resource-richer network element, leveraging data plane programming (DPP). This approach enhances security as it guarantees that a comprehensive server certificate verification is always performed. Additionally, it increases performance as resource-expensive tasks are moved from IIoT devices to a resource-richer network element. Results show that the proposed solution reduces DTLS handshake times by 50–60 %. Furthermore, CPU use in IIoT devices is also reduced, resulting in an energy saving of about 40 % in such devices.

Digital certificates are regarded as the most secure and scalable way of implementing authentication services in the Internet today. They are used by most popular security protocols, including Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS). The lifecycle management of digital certificates relies on centralized Certification Authority (CA)-based Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs). However, the implementation of PKIs and certificate lifecycle management procedures in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) environments presents some challenges, mainly due to the high resource consumption that they imply and the lack of trust in the centralized CAs. This paper identifies and describes the main challenges to implement certificate-based public key cryptography in IIoT environments and it surveys the alternative approaches proposed so far in the literature to address these challenges. Most proposals rely on the introduction of a Trusted Third Party to aid the IIoT devices in tasks that exceed their capacity. The proposed alternatives are complementary and their application depends on the specific challenge to solve, the application scenario, and the capacities of the involved IIoT devices. This paper revisits all these alternatives in light of industrial communication models, identifying their strengths and weaknesses, and providing an in-depth comparative analysis.