Empowering Resilience: The Evolution of Self-Adaptive Augmented Services

The NATWORK Project: Pioneering 6G Cybersecurity and Resilience

The NATWORK project is dedicated to developing and implementing the first economically viable, energy-efficient, and practical 6G cybersecurity and resilience framework. Their goal is to lay the groundwork for a bio-inspired, artificial intelligence (AI) powered security system that caters to the complex needs of intelligent networking and services in a cross-sector business environment.

The Vision of NATWORK

NATWORK envisions a revolutionary AI-leveraged self-adaptive security mechanism for 6G networks, inspired by resilient biomimicry principles. The project focuses on six key pillars:

1. Enhancing 6G architectures to provide end-to-end security.
2. Facilitating secure composition and migration of 6G cloud-native slices and secure distributed computations.
3. Delivering AI-powered trustworthy management for highly adaptable and attack-resilient networks.
4. Implementing physical layer security for encryption-free, self-resilient wireless links.
5. Deploying security modules in relevant use cases.
6. Evaluating and validating the performance of the security framework.

Learning from Nature

The NATWORK consortium explores bio-inspired network management and security, drawing parallels between a 6G network and a biological organism. By mimicking the immune system’s ability to learn from past incidents and adapt to future threats, NATWORK aims to create a sustainable and secure 6G ecosystem.

By applying AI for anomaly detection and leveraging self-learning mechanisms, NATWORK aims to enhance security and sustainability in 6G networks, akin to biological homeostasis.

Key Achievements of NATWORK

NATWORK has made significant progress in developing its technology, conducting tests, and defining integration frameworks. The project focuses on creating AI-driven cybersecurity solutions that adapt to evolving threats and ensure network resilience.

Moreover, NATWORK aims to influence 6G standardization and policy, aligning with EU regulations and contributing to Europe’s leadership in the global 6G landscape.

Technological Advancements by NATWORK

NATWORK has introduced several innovative technological solutions, including dynamic moving target defense, AI-native 6G architecture, secure-by-design cloud-native slices, and AI-powered security modules.

Use Cases of NATWORK

The consortium has identified four key use cases, each focusing on different aspects of 6G security and resilience. From sustainability and reliability to IoT security and network variability, NATWORK’s use cases cover a wide spectrum of challenges.

About the NATWORK Project

NATWORK, led by a consortium of 15 participants from EU and associated countries, aims to revolutionize 6G cybersecurity and resilience. With a substantial budget and a focus on cutting-edge technology, NATWORK is poised to make a lasting impact on the future of networking.

Disclaimer

The project has received funding from various entities under the Horizon Europe research and innovation program, indicating strong support for its objectives.

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