A survey on security in network functions virtualization

Network functions virtualization (NFV) is an emerging network technology. Instead of deploying hardware equipments for each network functions, virtualized network functions in NFV are realized through virtual machines (VMs) running various software on top of industry standard high volume servers or cloud computing infrastructure. NFV decreases hardware equipment costs and energy consumption, improves operational efficiency and optimizes network configuration. However, potential security issues is a major concern of NFV. In this paper, we survey the challenges and opportunities in NFV security. We describe the NFV architecture design and some potential NFV security issues and challenges. We also present existing NFV security solutions and products. We also survey NFV security use cases and explore promising research directions in this area.