Towards Securing Next-Generation Networks: Attacking 5G Core/RAN Testbed

As the networking and communications landscape moves towards 5G and an increasing number of users are already accessing the Internet over 5G systems at an increasing pace, security issues rise and the corresponding vulnerabilities are in need of being addressed. The work presented in this paper constitutes an attempt at addressing the issue of training defenders capable of tackling cyberattacks and detection systems capable of timely notifying of security events. The key contribution of this paper is the proposal of a fully containerized testbed, incorporating a 5G cellular core, a radio access network (RAN), a set of potentially vulnerable hosts, and the appropriate entry points as interfaces. Attackers and defenders alike, can perform attacks or implement defensive measures correspondingly, without needing to exit the established sandbox. The developed testbed and emulation framework is envisaged to pave the path towards facilitating the generation of realistic datasets containing malicious traffic captured over 5G tunnels for enhancing the security of next generation networks.