2nd Summit on Security and Privacy in Future Mobile Networks (SECURENET) 2024

The SECURENET Summit on Security and Privacy in Future Mobile Networks 2024 primarily focuses on the security and privacy of future mobile networks, including 5G and 6G. With the increasing reliance on mobile networks across various sectors, the security and privacy of these networks have become significant concerns.

The SECURENET Summit discusses these issues and highlights cutting-edge solutions to ensure that the networks are secure and resilient against potential security threats.

The SECURENET 2024 Summit is an academic event jointly organized by the Network Softwarization and Security Labs (NETSLAB) research group at the UCD School of Computer Science and the SFI CONNECT Centre. The summit aims to bring together professors, researchers, and graduate students, as well as industrial researchers, to share ideas, experiences, and implementations related to the security and privacy aspects of 5G, 6G, and IoT systems.

O’Brien Centre for Science University College Dublin

 

Tuesday, 21 May 2024

Topics of interests:

Agenda:

08:30 - 09:00
Welcome Coffee and Registration
09:00 - 09:10
University College Dublin
Opening Remarks
Dr Bart Siniarski

Dr Bart Siniarski holds the position of a post-doctoral researcher and serves as a project manager for the EU H2020 SPATIAL project at University College Dublin. His academic journey commenced with undergraduate studies in Computer Science at both University College Dublin (Ireland) and the University of New South Wales (Australia). In 2018, he successfully earned his doctoral degree. His expertise lies in the field of IoT networks, with a particular focus on the design, data collection, storage, and analysis derived from intelligent sensors. Moreover, Bartlomiej has actively contributed to various projects, including MSCA-ITN-ETN, ICT-52-2020, and H2020-SU-DS-2020, which are dedicated to addressing challenges in network security, performance, and management within 5G and B5G networks. "
09:10 - 09:20
University College Dublin
Welcome Speech about UCD and CS

Prof. Liam Murphy
 
Prof. Liam Murphy received a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from University College Dublin in 1985, and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988 and 1992 respectively. He is currently a Full Professor in Computer Science & Informatics at University College Dublin, where he is Director of the Performance Engineering Laboratory. Prof. Murphy has published over 150 refereed journal and conference papers on various topics, including multimedia transmissions, dynamic and adaptive resource allocation algorithms in computer/communication networks, and software performance. His current research projects involve computer network convergence and software performance engineering. Prof. Murphy is a Member of the IEEE (Communications, Broadcasting, and Computer societies) and a Fellow of the Irish Computer Society.
09:20 - 09:40
University College Dublin
Introduction to NetsLab

Assoc. Prof. Madhusanka Liyanage

Associate Professor / Ad Astra Fellow and Director of Graduate Research, School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Ireland

Madhusanka Liyanage is an Assistant Professor/Ad Astra Fellow and Director of Graduate Research at University College Dublin, Ireland. He is also a Docent/Adjunct Professor at the University of Oulu, Finland, the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, and the University of Sri Jarawardhenepura, Sri Lanka. He holds a Doctor of Technology degree from the University of Oulu, Finland (2016) and prestigious fellowships during 2018-2020. Madhusanka has been a Visiting Research Fellow at various renowned institutions globally. He received the "2020 IEEE ComSoc Outstanding Young Researcher" award and was ranked among the World's Top 2% of Scientists in 2021 and 2022. He has over 150+ publications, authored books, edited books, and two patents. Additionally, he serves as an expert consultant at European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and has secured over 5 Million Euro research funding. Currently, he leads three large EU H2020/Horizon Europe projects and is the director of the Netslab team at University College Dublin, Ireland. More info: www.madhusanka.com 

09:40 - 10:00
WINGS
Project highlights - CONFIDENTIAL-6G

Dr Vera Stavroulaki

Vera Stavroulaki is a technology developer and Co-founder of WINGS ICT Solutions (https://www.wings-ict-solutions.eu/). She is the Managing Director of diTTo BV (https://ditto-engineering.com/). She has 20 years of experience, working on the design and development of intelligent cloud-based IoT applications and data platforms in various vertical domains and Digital Twin solutions. She has actively participated in EU funded research projects of the FP7/ICT, FP6/IST and FP5/IST frameworks and is currently involved in various H2020 projects. She is the Project coordinator of the H2020 DEDICAT and the JU SNS CONFIDENTIAL6G projects. She has served as a co-coordinator of the IERC AC3 “IoT innovation and pilots” and as a Rapporteur of the Technical Report ETSI TR 102 684 “Reconfigurable Radio Systems (RRS); Feasibility Study on Control Channels for Cognitive Radio Systems”. She has authored more than 100 publications in international journals and refereed conferences.

10:00 - 10:30
Telefonica, Spain
Talk 1 - Detection and Mitigation of Poisoning Attacks in Federated Learning with Adaptive Federated Averaging

 Dr Luis Muñoz-González 

 

Dr Luis Muñoz-González is a senior research scientist at Telefónica Research in Barcelona, Spain. Before that, he worked as a research associate in the Department of Computing at Imperial College London, being part of the Resilient Information Systems Security (RISS) group. Dr Muñoz-González obtained a PhD on machine learning at University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain. His PhD thesis on Gaussian Process models for nonstationary regression was recognized with the Extraordinary Doctorate Award. His current research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning and cyber security, including the security of machine learning, federated learning, and machine learning for cyber security.

Abstract: At training time, Federated Learning algorithms can be vulnerable to data and model poisoning attacks, where attackers can manipulate the parameters of the global model to produce indiscriminate or targeted errors when the model is deployed. In this talk we present, adaptive federated averaging, a technique for mitigating the effect of such attacks and detect the malicious participants trying to compromise a federated learning task, including a robust aggregation algorithm capable of ignoring malicious updates and a Hidden Markov Model to model the participants’ behaviour during training.

10:30 - 11:00
Coffee Break and Poster Session
11:00 - 11:30
Queen's University Belfast, UK
Talk 2 - Exploring Secure, Intelligent, Programmable SAGINs

Assoc. Prof. Sandra Scott-Hayward (Queen's University Belfast)

Sandra Scott-Hayward is an Associate Professor with the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and a Member of the Centre for Secure Information Technologies at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). She began her career in industry and became a Chartered Engineer in 2006. Since joining academia, she has contributed security designs and solutions for softwarized networks based on her research on network security architectures and security functions for emerging networks, specifically considering threat detection and protection mechanisms in programmable networks. She received Outstanding Technical Contributor and Outstanding Leadership awards from the Open Networking Foundation in 2015 and 2016, respectively, having been elected and serving as the Vice-Chair of the ONF Security Working Group from 2015 to 2017. Dr. Scott-Hayward serves on the editorial board for IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, and IEEE Transactions on Machine Learning in Communications and Networking. She is Vice-Chair of the IEEE NetSoft Steering Committee. She is Director of the QUB Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education (ACE-CSE), co-lead of the QUB Leverhulme Interdisciplinary Network on Algorithmic Solutions (LINAS) doctoral training programme, and a Polymath Fellow of the Global Fellowship Initiative at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) from 2021 to 2023. With LINAS and GCSP, she explores the impact of ML and AI technologies on security and society.

Abstract: Space-air-ground integrated networks (SAGINs) extend terrestrial network infrastructure to non-ter­restrial networks (NTNs), integrating satellite and unmanned aerial vehicle communications, high-altitude platforms, and space systems. These integrated networks can provide connectivity to remote locations, enhance service delivery, and support new ventures. NTN integration is an ambitious mission in 3GPP to extend the Internet to sky and outer space. Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelli­gence (AI) solutions are being explored to advance cooperative and autonomous behaviour, self-organisation, and optimisation in SAGINs with associated security challenges. In this talk, we will explore the security, intelligence, and programmable aspects of SAGIN.

11:30 - 12:00
WINGS, Greece
Talk 3 - Designing a (Fully) Homomorphic Encryption Scheme to encrypt the data exchanged in a Federated Learning Model

Konstantinos Lessis & Christina Karousatou

 

Dr Christina Karousatou is a solution architect in WINGS ICT Solutions. She received her PhD in Computer Science from Aix-Marseille University in 2017 and continued her research on mathematical optimization problems at TU Darmstadt as a post-doctoral fellow till 2020. In 2022 she joined the WINGS ICT solutions team and has undertaken task leading and work package leading roles in various EU funded research projects.

Konstantinos Lessis is a data scientist at WINGS ICT Solutions. He has participated in several research and development projects. His research interests focus on the design, and development of Machine Learning models, with an emphasis on the use of ML and AI in cybersecurity, anomaly detection in critical-infrastructures, predictive maintenance and supply chain optimization.

Abstract: Federated learning provides a new way to use Machine Learning models as there is no need to exchange data. The only information exchange between the nodes regards the ML model’s parameters like the weights of a deep neural network. Although FL makes it possible to extract knowledge of training data without direct data exchange, transmitting the model updates could enable an attacker to infer private data. Our proposal for secure FL leverages the (Fully) Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) approach. FHE enables computation on encrypted data without the need for decryption, thus offering a robust solution for privacy-preserving FL. In this presentation we will examine the design considerations for integrating FHE into the Federated Learning model built for CONFIDENTIAL 6G use cases.

 

12:00 - 12:30
Nokia, Finland
Talk 4 - Confidential Computing and Privacy-preserving Technologies for 6G Confidential Networking

Shush Liu (Nokia)

Shushu Liu is currently a researcher at Nokia Bell Labs, Espoo, Finland. She received the Ph.D. degree from Department of Communication and Networking, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland, in 2022. Her research interests are in security and privacy in 5G/6G network. Dr. Liu is author of more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and is serving as reviewer of Wireless Communication Magazine, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE Access Journal, Information Sciences, etc.
Abstract: The sixth generation (6G) of cellular networks is expected to provide a reliable, trustworthy, and resilient service with substantial increase of coverage and network heterogeneity. The emerging technologies such as post-quantum cryptography (PQC), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and distributed ledger technology (DLT) are playing a significant role in achieving the 6G objectives. This talk focuses on confidential networking in 6G, referring to the protection of data transmitted over networks with encryption and secure protocols such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) with regards to new requirements and architectures for the 6G security and privacy such as authentication, encryption, access control and communication. 

12:30 - 14:00
Networking Lunch and Poster Session
14:00 - 14:30
CTTC, Spain
Talk 5 - Recent advances in security and trust for network orchestration and management

Engin Zydan (CTTC)

Engin Zeydan received his PhD degree in February 2011 from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, USA. He is currently a senior researcher in the Services as Networks (SaS) Research Unit in CTTC in Barcelona, Spain. He was the Project Coordinator of the European H2020 5GPP MonB5G project (2021-2023). Dr. Engin Zeydan has many years of experience as a researcher in EU Framework Programmes at technical and administrative levels in both industry and research organizations and has been involved in several projects including FP7 STREPs, Celtic, ITEA and H2020 as Technical Lead and WP Lead. His research activities include outstanding publications (more than 120 papers in leading conferences and journals and 10 national patents) and successful participation in research-funded projects mainly focused on telecommunications and data science/engineering.

Abstract: This talk will focus on the latest advances in security and trust mechanisms related to network orchestration and management. As networks become more complex and extensive, ensuring robust security and maintaining trust are of paramount importance. We will discuss innovative strategies and technologies that are shaping the future of network security, including the integration of AI-driven solutions, blockchain technology for greater transparency and trust. The talk will also provide insight into how these recent advances can effectively mitigate risks in network management and ensure reliable network operations in an increasingly connected world.

14:30 - 15:00
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität
Talk 6 - Automated Analysis and Synthesis of Message Authentication Codes

Julian Thomas (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität)

 

Julian Thomas is a PhD student in cryptography at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany, and He is working on the European Confidential 6G project. His research interested are in the formalizations and automatication of privacy-enhancing cryptographic primitives as well as post-quantum cryptography.

Abstract: Message authentication codes are a fundamental symmetric key primitive to ensure authenticity and integrity. We present the first framework to comprehensively and automatically generate and analyze secure deterministic message authentication codes based on pseudorandom functions.

15:00 -15:30
University College Dublin
Talk 7 - Blockchain-based Consensus Mechanisms for Detecting Spectrum Access Violations

Assoc. Prof. Madhusanka Liyanage

Madhusanka Liyanage is an Associate Professor/Ad Astra Fellow and Director of Graduate Research at University College Dublin, Ireland. He is also a Docent/Adjunct Professor at the University of Oulu, Finland, the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, and the University of Sri Jarawardhenepura, Sri Lanka. He holds a Doctor of Technology degree from the University of Oulu, Finland (2016) and prestigious fellowships from 2018 to 2020. Madhusanka has been a Visiting Research Fellow at various renowned institutions globally. He received the "2020 IEEE ComSoc Outstanding Young Researcher" award and was ranked among the World's Top 2% of Scientists in 2021, 2022, and 2023. He has over 200+ publications, authored books, edited books, and two patents. Additionally, he serves as an expert consultant at the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and has secured over 5 Million euros in research funding. Currently, he leads three large EU H2020/Horizon Europe projects and is the director of the Netslab team at University College Dublin, Ireland. More info: www.madhusanka.com

Abstract: The exponential growth in connected devices with Internet-of-Things (IoT) and next-generation wireless networks requires more advanced and dynamic spectrum access mechanisms. Blockchain-based approaches to Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) seem efficient and robust due to their inherited characteristics such as decentralization, immutability and transparency. However, conventional consensus mechanisms used in blockchain networks are expensive to be used due to the cost, processing and energy constraints. Moreover, none of the blockchain-based DSA systems can efficiently address spectrum violation (i.e., unauthorized access to the spectrum). To address these issues, we propose a newly tailored energy-efficient consensus mechanism called Distributed-Proof-of-Sense (DPoS) that is specially designed to enable DSA and detect spectrum violations. The proposed consensus algorithm motivates blockchain miners to perform spectrum sensing, which leads to the collection of a full spectrum of sensing data. An elliptic curve cryptography-based zero-knowledge proof is used as the core of the proposed mechanism. With the potential of blockchain and smart contracts, the proposed DSA system can provide service automation and real-time spectrum marketplace features as well.

15:30 - 16:00
Coffee break
16:00 - 16:30
Abstract Machines, France
Panel Discussion (All Speakers) : Safeguarding Tomorrow's Connectivity: Exploring Security and Privacy in the 6G Era

Drasko Draskovi

Drasko is an IoT expert with over 15 years of professional experience. He hacked embedded Linux SW and HW device drivers, designing complex wireless systems in telecom industry: he was working on OMAP platform in Texas Instruments, designed 4G multi-protocol femto-cells in Alcatel-Lucent and worked on 5G and blockchain solutions in Nokia. Drasko earned his reputation in open-source community as an author of numerous projects - like WeIO or Mainflux. He is one of the main contributors of the Linux Foundation's EdgeX Foundry project. Drasko is an author of the book "Scalable Architecture for the Internet of Things" published by O'Reilly and vivid conference speaker, sharing his thoughts on modern software design and how Internet should be decentralized. He holds a MSc in Electrical Engineering from Belgrade University.