5G SDN Tools for Automated and Reliable Security (5STARS)

5G mobile networks are poised to dramatically enhance communication capabilities for DoD missions, such as those that require high mobility, and/or seamless connectivity between Navy vessels and UAV/USV/UUV/UGVs, each with rapidly changing positions. The network slicing enhancements of 5G will enable increasingly sophisticated network tunneling scenarios, such as allowing a battlefield partner (of varying degrees of trustworthiness) to securely tunnel through Navy networks (and vice versa). Additionally, 5G networks provide streamlined deployment and maintenance of classic network security packages like DDoS protection, botnet defense, moving target defense, and re-provisioning of network resources in resource-constrained environments. In the 5G SDN Tools for Automated and Reliable Security (5STARS) project we focus on securing data/user plane within the 5G Mobile Core and slice isolation case studies. We are developing a network verification tool that is (1) fully automated and therefore easy to use by network technicians with minimal additional training, (2) scalable and therefore applicable to complex network topologies and network applications, (3) general and therefore applicable to a wide range of both industry and government use case scenarios, and (4) high assurance and therefore capable of verifying the absence of bugs (within a restricted class) with a 100% certainty guarantee.