Overview on the security in 5G phase 2

Abstract

During the early development stages of the 5G specifications by 3GPP, it was quickly identified that it is not possible to address all the use cases of the 5G System within the normal Release timeframe. Therefore, it was decided to split the work in two phases. The 5G Phase 1 work focused on the foundation of the new system while 5G Phase 2 focused more on the needed enhancements to address the use cases. The work on the security in 5G Phase 1 was ample enough to deliver all the needed mechanisms not only to secure the communication between the different entities but also to protect the privacy of the user. Therefore, it is expected that the work on 5G Phase 2 will unlikely have impact on the security mechanisms. Nevertheless, some of the new features in 5G Phase 2 give rise to subtle security challenges which may require enhancements to the existing mechanisms. In this article, we consider some of the 5G Phase 2 features and shed light on such security aspects.