Keep up to date with our innovative initiatives.
Sign up here
The i2CAT Foundation has recently joined iTrust6G (Intelligent Trust and Security Orchestration for 6G Distributed Cloud Environments), a research project launched in January 2024 that will propose novel concepts and solutions for a unified and intelligent security architecture for distributed network and cloud domains, capable of addressing advanced 6G use cases and applications. The project brings together 8 European partners, including academic and research institutions, tech companies and telecom operators. iTrust6G is funded by the Horizon Europe Programme and belongs to the Stream B of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU), the European Research and Innovation initiative oriented at designing and facilitating technologies for the next generation of mobile networks and its advanced services.
Within the project, the i2CAT Foundation is the Scientific & Technical Coordinator, lead the preparation of the project’s architecture and oversees Work Package 5 – AI-Enabled Security Orchestration and Programmability –. Notably, the Catalan research centre will focus on Task 5.1 – Programmable resource generation and deployment –. Within this task, researchers will focus on developing network services operated in 6G networks by selecting and integrating adequate security enablers in resources to protect. To that extent, they will define the interfaces needed to program and configure security enablers, service orchestrators and runtime to cope with various security requirements. They will also investigate novel virtualisation models facilitating security programmability at design and operation times. Within this task, researchers will elaborate a policy model to express those security requirements consistently, extending the Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications (TOSCA) modelling language. Finally, they will evaluate several models to conduct the programmability at different steps of the resource lifetime (design, deployment, and operation phases). “This contribution from the i2CAT’s Cybersecurity research area will increase the robustness of the next generation of networks by contributing to the security-by-design of network services, the automation of security operations and the fine tailoring of threat monitoring and remediation measures”, explains Maxime Compastié, Senior Researcher of the Cybersecurity and DLT-blockchain research area at i2CAT.
iTrust6G’s main goal is to design a network architecture implementing zero-trust principles to increase the trustworthiness of 6G networks at several levels, such as the AI/ML algorithm exploited for threat handling, asset compliance, explainable security policies and asset observability.
Within the project, researchers will develop three use cases focused on the technological validation of the developed architecture’s multiple security, trust, and privacy aspects. Since the verticals and applications envisioned for 6G networks are still being defined or developed, iTrust6G will target the technological validation of the key security enablers required for 6G networks.
