Addressing ZSM Security Issues with Blockchain Technology

Michael Xevgenis, Dimitrios G. Kogias, Panagiotis A. Karkazis () and Helen C. Leligou
Additional contact information
Michael Xevgenis: Department of Industrial Design and Production Engineering, University of West Attica, 122 43 Attica, Greece
Dimitrios G. Kogias: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of West Attica, 122 43 Attica, Greece
Panagiotis A. Karkazis: Department of Information and Computer Engineering, University of West Attica, 122 43 Attica, Greece
Helen C. Leligou: Department of Industrial Design and Production Engineering, University of West Attica, 122 43 Attica, Greece

Future Internet, 2023, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-21

Abstract: Undoubtedly, we are witnessing a new era of computer networks that aspire to support modern demanding applications by providing the highest Quality of Experience (QoE) to the end user. Next Generations Networks (NGNs) ensure that characteristics such as ultra-low latency, high availability and wide service coverage can be met across the network regardless of the network infrastructure ownership. To accomplish that, beyond the necessary improvements in the radio propagation field, changes have been made in the core network functions which are now characterized as programmable, and software defined. Software Defined Networks (SDNs) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are the keystones of the NGNs flexibility. The high expectations of NGNs’ performance and the continuous changes in the network conditions lead to the development of new network management frameworks that add elasticity and dynamicity and minimize human intervention. ETSI (the European Standards Organization) presents the Zero-touch Service Management (ZSM) framework that uses hyped technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to achieve full end-to-end automation of the network services’ management across one or many different domains. Focusing on multi-domain network service management, there are several security issues identified by the standardization team which mostly derive from the lack of trust among network providers. In the present research, we explore the suitability of blockchain technology adoption for facing these security issues. Blockchain technology inherently addresses security in trustless environments such as the infrastructures defined by the ZSM team. Our contribution is three-fold: (a) we define the architecture of a multi-domain network infrastructure that adopts the ZSM approach and integrates blockchain functionality, (b) we explore the adoption of different blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) approaches to address ZSM security needs and (c) we provide guidelines to prospective solution designers/implementers on the detailed requirements that this solution has to meet to maximize the offered value.

Keywords: zero touch networks; next generation networks; cross-domain resource management; blockchain/DLT (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/15/4/129/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/15/4/129/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jftint:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:129-:d:1110000

Access Statistics for this article

Future Internet is currently edited by Ms. Grace You

More articles in Future Internet from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().