Secure Authentication and Credential Establishment in Narrowband IoT and 5G

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Network Security
• Internet of Things

Background:

• Security is paramount for novel IoT and 5G networks, requiring secure bootstrapping for data exchange.
• Existing bootstrapping protocols lack sufficient service access authentication for constrained IoT devices in NB-IoT and 5G.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt bootstrapping protocols for 3GPP compliance, enabling secondary authentication for constrained IoT devices in 5G.
• To evaluate adapted Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) lower layers for secure key establishment in NB-IoT and 4G/5G.

Main Methods:

• Adaptation of two EAP lower layers: PANATIKI and LO-CoAP-EAP.
• Evaluation and comparison of adapted layers against the PANA standard for IoT constraints.
• Testing efficiency and feasibility of the proposed solution in 5G environments.

Main Results:

• Successful adaptation of EAP lower layers for secondary authentication and key establishment.
• Demonstrated flexibility and scalability in the bootstrapping process for 5G networks.
• Proved the efficiency and feasibility of the proposed solution for constrained IoT devices.

Conclusions:

• The adapted bootstrapping protocols enhance security for constrained IoT devices in 5G.
• This work provides a foundation for secure service authentication and key establishment in future IoT deployments.
• The proposed solution offers a flexible and scalable approach to IoT bootstrapping in 5G environments.