Towards Micro-Segmentation in 5G Network Security

5G mobile networks are currently designed with a vision of reshaping the mobile network architecture. 5G will be a completely new ecosystem with heterogeneous high-speed access technologies and built-in support for various applications and services. The amount of mobile traffic and number of users increases gradually each year as the demand for interactive multimedia, social networking, online gaming, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and vehicle-to-vehicle communication grows. To enable operators to better support different applications, mobile networks will be software-defined and virtual in the future. Security of 5G is going to be crucial in those critical applications that must rely on the mobile network to provide strong authentication, confidentiality, availability and privacy guarantees. In the case of an attack the consequences could be dramatic. For example, an IIoT based factory may occur severe damages if faulty information by an IoT sensor is provided. The roles of isolation, virtualization and network management are going to be important. Applications or services requiring high level of security can be protected by isolating them from the rest of the network. Micro-segmentation is a concept, originating from data centres, for isolating different applications and parts of networks from each other. This paper contributes by describing how the concept of micro-segments can be adapted and utilized in 5G mobile networks. We present the key aspects of microsegmentation and provide a description of our initial proof-of-concept demonstration and ideas how micro-segmentation could be integrated into 5G network architecture. We also describe challenges for future research.