Network Slicing in 6G: An Authentication Framework for Unattended Terminals

Compared to the 5G network, the future 6G network is a multi-scenario application network containing more unattended terminals. The network slicing technology inherited from 5G enables more service providers to offer the same services with differentiated quality of services (QoS) and costs for their subscribers in 6G networks, in which more complex tasks occur for unattended terminals, such as unmanned factories, unmanned medical care, and unmanned rescues. However, network slice access of unattended terminals faces challenges. Specifically, physical attacks are a significant threat to unattended terminals in an open environment. The constrained resources and seamless services of unattended terminals also have to be considered. Unfortunately, there is currently a lack of an authentication scheme to address the above situation. As new lightweight hardware security primitive, Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) is an ideal solution to promote the security of unattended terminals. This article provides a specific authentication framework for unattended terminals in 6G-enabled network slices. Specifically, based on PUF, we first propose a physically secure slice access authentication protocol. Then we extend it to support fast inter-slice handover authentication, ensuring service continuity. Moreover, we prove the security of the proposed framework and conclude that it satisfies the higher security requirements of the 6G network. Finally, the performance evaluation with three other state-of-the-art authentication schemes demonstrates the superior efficiency of the proposed framework.