Blockchain-Based Decentralized Authentication for Information-Centric 5G Networks

The 5G research community is increasingly leveraging the innovative features offered by Information Centric Networking (ICN). However, ICN’s fundamental features, such as in-network caching, make access control enforcement more challenging in an ICN-based 5G deployment. To address this shortcoming, we propose a Blockchain-based Decentralized Authentication Protocol (BDAP) which enables efficient and secure mobile user authentication in an ICN-based 5G network. We show that BDAP is robust against a variety of attacks to which mobile networks and blockchains are particularly vulnerable. Moreover, a preliminary performance analysis suggests that BDAP can reduce the authentication delay compared to the standard 5G authentication protocols.