Die Netzsicherheit befasst sich mit Techniken zur Erkennung und Verhinderung des unbefugten Zugriffs auf Kommunikationsnetze und der über sie übertragenen Daten. Unsere Forschung konzentriert sich auf neue Technologien wie 6G-Mobilfunknetze und Quantenkommunikation.

Secure Communications in a Quantum World

Shima Hassanpour

The development of quantum computers poses a challenge to securing systems because many cryptographic primitives will become easier to break. However, due to certain properties of quantum mechanics, such as quantum superposition, quantum entanglement, and the quantum no-cloning theorem, secure communication in a quantum world is still possible. Quantum security holds the key to a possible solution to security challenges.

Use cases

• Quantum key distribution
• Quantum private query

Methods

• Use the definition of the quantum game to specify the actual notion of security.
• Formalize the quantum security of existing and future protocols.

Future

• Use the properties of quantum mechanics to provide high levels of security and privacy when sending signals over the future communication networks.

Security aspects of network slicing in Software-Defined Networks

Fritz Windisch

Modern communication infrastructure faces new threats constantly, also due to the recent flooding of the market with IoT devices. This prompts network operators to switch from the model of a perimeter defense (protecting a demilitarized zone) towards the model of micro-segmentation to isolate devices and thus threats on a network level. This limits the lateral movement an attacker can reach in a network. This isolation and micro-segmentation can be provided by network slicing, a term that has gained more traction with the advent of 5G and subsequent mobile standards. Apart from isolation, other guarantees can also be provided by network slicing solutions, such as bandwidth or latency guarantees. Network slicing will thus play a major role in the networks of the future.

We are mainly interested in building and evaluating network slicing solutions according to their security aspects.

Use cases

• Isolation of devices in networks
• Provisioning of network resources to participants with guarantees

Methods

• Creation of a hardware based testbed to build and test network slicing solutions at data center speeds (100Gbit/s+) using SDN
• Evaluation of security aspects of network slicing solutions through experiments

Future

• Development of network slicing solutions that provide adequate and proven security characteristics for future networks