119
A Comprehensive Guide to 5G Security, First Edition. Edited by Madhusanka Liyanage, Ijaz Ahmad,
Ahmed Bux Abro, Andrei Gurtov, and Mika Ylianttila.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2018 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
6
6.1 Introduction
Along with the rapid deployment of wireless communication networks, wireless
security has become a critical concern. Unfortunately, security risks are inherent in
any wireless technology. Some of these risks are similar to those of wired networks,
some are exacerbated by wireless connectivity and some other are completely new. The
most significant source of risks in wireless networks is that the communications
medium is open to intruders. Mobile and handheld wireless devices are resource constrained (e.g. battery life) and hence such devices have limited transmission power and
may use weaker cryptographic mechanisms for saving power, thereby making them
easy targets for powerful adversaries. Self‐configuring heterogeneous networks may
use very different levels of security, the lower secured links being a potential breach for
the whole system. A direct consequence of these risks is the loss of data confidentiality
and integrity and the threat of denial of service (DoS) attacks to wireless communications. Unauthorized users may gain access to system and information, corrupt the
data, consume network bandwidth, degrade network performance, launch attacks that
prevent authorized users from accessing the network, or use resources to launch
attacks on other networks.
The security of radio interfaces of wireless networks is nowadays crucial for
many applications: broadband internet, e‐commerce, radio‐terminal payments, bank
services, machine‐to‐machine communications, health/hospital remote services, etc.
In addition, the approaching sensing procedures of future radio access technologies
such as white space and cognitive networks will result in numerous transmissions of
precious geo‐referenced radio engineering data, whose integrity and confidentiality
must be well secured.
Most commonly‐used security methods rely on cryptographic techniques, either
asymmetric (based on public and private keys) or symmetric (based on a shared secret
Physical Layer Security
Simone Soderi
1,2
, Lorenzo Mucchi
3
, Matti Hämäläinen
1
, Alessandro Piva
3
,
and Jari Iinatti
1
1 Centre for Wireless Communications, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
2 Alstom Ferroviaria SpA, Florence, Italy
3 Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
A Comprehensive Guide to 5G Security, First Edition. Edited by Madhusanka Liyanage, Ijaz Ahmad,
Ahmed Bux Abro, Andrei Gurtov, and Mika Ylianttila.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2018 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
6
6.1 Introduction
Along with the rapid deployment of wireless communication networks, wireless
security has become a critical concern. Unfortunately, security risks are inherent in
any wireless technology. Some of these risks are similar to those of wired networks,
some are exacerbated by wireless connectivity and some other are completely new. The
most significant source of risks in wireless networks is that the communications
medium is open to intruders. Mobile and handheld wireless devices are resource constrained (e.g. battery life) and hence such devices have limited transmission power and
may use weaker cryptographic mechanisms for saving power, thereby making them
easy targets for powerful adversaries. Self‐configuring heterogeneous networks may
use very different levels of security, the lower secured links being a potential breach for
the whole system. A direct consequence of these risks is the loss of data confidentiality
and integrity and the threat of denial of service (DoS) attacks to wireless communications. Unauthorized users may gain access to system and information, corrupt the
data, consume network bandwidth, degrade network performance, launch attacks that
prevent authorized users from accessing the network, or use resources to launch
attacks on other networks.
The security of radio interfaces of wireless networks is nowadays crucial for
many applications: broadband internet, e‐commerce, radio‐terminal payments, bank
services, machine‐to‐machine communications, health/hospital remote services, etc.
In addition, the approaching sensing procedures of future radio access technologies
such as white space and cognitive networks will result in numerous transmissions of
precious geo‐referenced radio engineering data, whose integrity and confidentiality
must be well secured.
Most commonly‐used security methods rely on cryptographic techniques, either
asymmetric (based on public and private keys) or symmetric (based on a shared secret
Physical Layer Security
Simone Soderi
1,2
, Lorenzo Mucchi
3
, Matti Hämäläinen
1
, Alessandro Piva
3
,
and Jari Iinatti
1
1 Centre for Wireless Communications, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
2 Alstom Ferroviaria SpA, Florence, Italy
3 Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, Florence, Italy