Softwarized Resource Allocation of Tailored Services with Zero Security Trust in 6G Networks

Comparing with previous five generation networks consisting of dedicated appliance, 6G network appliances are designed to be softwarized and isolated into software (resource and function) blocks and general-purpose hardware. Tailored services, having customized resources and function demands, can be executed by chained software blocks and co-exist in the underlying 6G general-purpose hardware. However, physical hardware is vulnerable to a wide range of security threats and attacks. When attacked, this can result in devastation and failure of tailored services. Furthermore, the quality of a tailored service will be greatly degraded. Recently, zero security trust emerges and is accepted as one contemporary security model that provides a new cybersecurity strategy to eliminate implicit trust. Thus, the soft-warized resource allocation of tailored services with zero security trust is investigated in this article. 6G networks and tailored service are firstly modeled and described. Then, the softwarized resource allocation method, abbreviated as Tail-ZeSec-6G, is detailed. When receiving one tailored service request, Tail-ZeSec-6G will check all underlying general-purpose appliance and eliminate implicit trust issues. After undergoing the security check and evaluation, Tail-ZeSec-6G will conduct a tailored resource allocation. Secure appliances with abundant softwarized resources will be selected to deploy the tailored service request, by adopting the resource allocation strategy in Tail-ZeSec-6G. When processing the tailored resource allocation, the Tail-ZeSec-6G method verifies the security of each appliance. Thus, Tail-ZeSec-6G method guarantees the deployment success and security performance. To validate the feasibility and merits of Tail-ZeSec-6G, evaluation is conducted. Finally, we conclude this article emphasizing three dominant directions.

Introduction Research Background

Since 2020, academia and industry have paid much more efforts to investigate 6G networks. A large number of white papers and reports have been released in order to push 6G research ahead. Com- paring with previous five generations of networks, 6G networks are designed to provide three-dimensional (3D), full-coverage, seamless and tailored services [1]. That is to say, 6G networks are not limited in the traditional terrestrial region. Satellite and aerial regions [2] are incorporated as well (Fig. 1). Consequently, millions of dedicated network appliances (e.g., servers, base stations, drones, flying airships, satellites) are accepted as fundamental components of 6G networks. Due to the huge amount of appliances, the topology of 6G networks will be complicated. If researchers and industrial enterprises insist on adopting the traditional networking method of deploying new dedicated appliance, it is hard to manage, maintain and develop new emerging services. Based on these backgrounds, the network softwarization (NetSoft) [2], [3], mainly achieved by SDN, NFV and network slicing (NS) technologies, is widely accepted as the dominant attribute of 6G networks. With NetSoft, network appliances will be softwarized and decoupled into software blocks and general-purpose hardware. Software blocks indicate network function (NF, e.g., firewall) blocks and resource (e.g., computing, storage) blocks. Users can initiate tailored service requests and their rigid performance metrics to their contracted telecommunication providers (TSPs). TSPs are responsible for realizing their tailored services and fulfilling rigid performance metrics. TSPs can chain these software blocks and constitute the tailored service requests on top of 6G general-purpose hardware. Apparently, this serving scheme in 6G networks will bring about huge benefits and has great potential, in terms of service upgradation and deriving extra new tailored services. Much research attention has been found in the literature, especially those related to softwarized resource allocation of tailored services [3].