Realizing Multi-Access Edge Computing
Feasibility: Security Perspective
- Post by: Pasika Ranaweera, Anca Delia Jurcut and Madhusanka Liyanage
- October 28, 2019
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Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G are emerging technologies that prompt a mobile service platform capable of provisioning billions of communication devices which enable ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence. These novel approaches are guaranteeing gigabit-level bandwidth, ultra-low latency and ultra-high storage capacity for their subscribers. To achieve these limitations, ETSI has introduced the paradigm of Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) for creating efficient data processing architecture extending the cloud computing capabilities in the Radio Access Network (RAN). Despite the gained enhancements to the mobile network, MEC is subjected to security challenges raised from the heterogeneity of IoT services, intricacies in integrating virtualization technologies, and maintaining the performance guarantees of the mobile networks (i.e. 5G). In this paper, we are identifying the probable threat vectors in a typical MEC deployment scenario that comply with the ETSI standards. We analyse the identified threat vectors and propose solutions to mitigate them.
Pasika Ranaweera is an Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in University College Dublin from September 2023. He was a Post-Doctoral Researcher in the UCD School of Computer Science in 2023. He was the project manager of the CONFIDENTIAL-6G project, funded by the EU H2022-SNS grant id: 101096435, during this profession. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in Electrical and Information Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, in 2010 with honors and received the Lanekassen scholarship for pursuing the Master’s Degree in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in 2013 from the University of Agder, Norway. Pasika completed his Ph.D. from University College Dublin, Ireland, on improving the security of service migrations of MEC in 2023. Prior to his Ph.D., he served as a lecturer attached to the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, from 2014 to 2018. Pasika is experienced in conducting teaching/ instructing/ demonstration work at international universities (UCD-Ireland, BDIC-China). He is currently conducting collaborative research with researchers at IIT-India, the University of Oulu-Finland, and the University of Ruhuna-Sri Lanka. Pasika is focused on enhancing the security measures in 5G and beyond 5G mobile networks, while his main research focus is directed at Federated Learning-based security issues and how to overcome them utilizing Blockchain. His additional research directives extend to lightweight security protocols, formal verification, security, service quality optimization, 5G and MEC integration technologies (SDN, NFV, Blockchain), privacy preservation techniques, and IoT security. In addition to the research work, he serves as a reviewer for IEEE IoT journal, IEEE Access, IEEE Communication Magazine, IEEE IoT Magazine, SN Computer Science, and various IEEE-hosted conferences and workshops under the IEEE Communication Society (also a member of IEEE ComSoc).
