Blockchain Authorization for Network Slice Service Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network slicing technologies face challenges in efficiently managing access authorization to various services within a dedicated communication network, lacking robust security and flexibility in ensuring that only authorized devices can access specific functionalities or services.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a blockchain-based authorization system within network slices, where session border controllers authenticate devices, and authorization modules access blockchain blocks to determine and enforce access rights to different services, providing secure and flexible access management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional centralized authorization systems are used in network slices, then security management is simplified, but security robustness and resistance to external tampering deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The authorization system is segmented into distributed authorization modules across multiple nodes in the network slice infrastructure. Each node maintains its own authorization state and can independently validate access requests, eliminating the single point of failure in centralized systems and improving security robustness against external tampering.
Solution Approach 2:
A blockchain-based intermediary layer is introduced between service requests and authorization decisions. The blockchain acts as a decentralized mediator that stores and validates authorization rules and device credentials, providing cryptographic verification without requiring trust in a single centralized authority, thus enhancing security robustness.
2Reliability
If blockchain-based distributed authorization is implemented, then security robustness and tampering resistance improve, but processing overhead and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
Authorization rules, device credentials, and access policies are pre-recorded and hashed into the blockchain structure during network slice setup and device onboarding. This preliminary action enables rapid verification of authorization requests during runtime by simply checking against pre-computed cryptographic proofs, significantly reducing processing overhead while maintaining tampering resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes from synchronous centralized authorization (high overhead) to asynchronous blockchain-based authorization with pre-computed proofs (low overhead). By transforming authorization verification into a parameter-checking operation on immutable blockchain data with pre-stored cryptographic credentials, the system achieves both tampering resistance and processing efficiency.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple authorization modules access different blockchain blocks, then service-specific authorization flexibility improves, but system complexity and coordination overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The blockchain authorization structure is segmented into service-specific blocks or segments, where each service can access and validate authorization rules relevant to its functionality. This segmentation allows each authorization module to independently process service requests by querying only the relevant blockchain segments, achieving service-specific flexibility without requiring complex cross-module coordination.
Solution Approach 2:
Each authorization module is equipped with local caching mechanisms and contextual information about its specific service requirements. The modules access blockchain blocks with locally relevant authorization data, applying local quality principles to reduce unnecessary blockchain queries and coordinate efficiently with other modules by leveraging their specialized local knowledge.
4Adaptability or versatility
If blockchain technology is integrated into network slice authorization, then extensibility and isolation of virtual network functions improve, but device complexity and implementation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The blockchain-based authorization system implements a universal interface and standardized protocol that can be applied across diverse network slice services, virtual network functions, and device types. This universality provides extensibility by allowing new services to be added without redesigning the authorization architecture, while standardized interfaces reduce implementation difficulty through reuse of proven components and patterns.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of authorizing access to a plurality of enterprise services provided by a network slice. The method comprises receiving a first message from an electronic device by an authorization module that executes on a computer system on which a network slice executes and wherein the first message requests access to a first enterprise service that executes in the network slice, based on accessing and examining a first block of a blockchain associated with the network slice by the authorization module, determining by the authorization module that the electronic device is authorized to access the first enterprise service, passing the first message to the first enterprise service for processing.