Policy-Based Security Management System for 5G Heterogeneous Networks

Abstract

Advances in mobile phone technology and the growth of associated networks have been phenomenal over the last decade. Therefore, they have been the focus of much academic research, driven by commercial and end-user demands for increasingly faster technology. The most recent generation of mobile network technology is the fifth generation (5G). 5G networks are expected to launch across the world by 2020 and to work with existing 3G and 4G technologies to provide extreme speed despite being limited to wireless technologies. An alternative network, Y-Communication (Y-Comm), proposes to integrate the current wired and wireless networks, attempting to achieve the main service requirements of 5G by converging the existing networks and providing an improved service anywhere at any time. Quality of service (QoS), vertical handover, and security are some of the technical concerns resulting from this heterogeneity. In addition, it is believed that the Y-Comm convergence will have a greater influence on security than was the case with the previous long-term evolution (LTE) 4G networks and with future 5G networks. The purpose of this research is to satisfy the security recommendations for 5G mobile networks. This research provides a policy-based security management system, ensuring that end-user devices cannot be used as weapons or tools of attack, for example, IP spoofing and man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks. The results are promising, with a low disconnection rate of less than 4% and 7%. This shows the system to be robust and reliable.