Secret Sharing in 5G-MEC: Applicability for joint Security and Dependability

2025-06-20

AI Summary

To address dual security and availability challenges—privacy leakage, malicious collusion, and node failures—in edge data storage for 5G-enabled multi-access edge computing (MEC), this paper proposes a distributed trusted storage scheme based on Shamir’s (k,n) threshold secret sharing. The scheme is the first to systematically adapt to the 5G-MEC architecture by distributing ciphertext shares across trusted edge hosts (MEHs) selected via dynamic trustworthiness evaluation. It simultaneously achieves eavesdropping resistance, collusion resilience (tolerating fewer than k malicious nodes), and fault tolerance (supporting up to n−k node failures). A novel MEH selection framework, centered on dynamically updated trust scores, ensures strong security guarantees, scalability, and cross-scenario reusability. Experimental evaluation under representative MEC topologies demonstrates low latency, high throughput, and high trust coverage, significantly enhancing both security and availability for sensitive edge data.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Learning on the Edge & Model Compression
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Representing, Reasoning, and Using Provenance, Trust
• Multiagent Systems: Mechanism Design

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Data transparency and provenance
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI
• Semantics and Knowledge: Provenance, trust, security and privacy, and ethical issues in managing semantic data

Abstract

Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC), an enhancement of 5G, processes data closer to its generation point, reducing latency and network load. However, the distributed and edge-based nature of 5G-MEC presents privacy and security challenges, including data exposure risks. Ensuring efficient manipulation and security of sensitive data at the edge is crucial. To address these challenges, we investigate the usage of threshold secret sharing in 5G-MEC storage, an approach that enhances both security and dependability. A (k,n) threshold secret sharing scheme splits and stores sensitive data among n nodes, requiring at least k nodes for reconstruction. The solution ensures confidentiality by protecting data against fewer than k colluding nodes and enhances availability by tolerating up to n-k failing nodes. This approach mitigates threats such as unauthorized access and node failures, whether accidental or intentional. We further discuss a method for selecting the convenient MEHs to store the shares, considering the MEHs' trustworthiness level as a main criterion. Although we define our proposal in the context of secret-shared data storage, it can be seen as an independent, standalone selection process for 5G-MEC trustworthy node selection in other scenarios too.

Problem

• Enhancing security and dependability in 5G-MEC storage
• Mitigating data exposure risks in distributed edge computing
• Selecting trustworthy nodes for secret-shared data storage

Innovation

• Threshold secret sharing for 5G-MEC security
• Distributes data among n nodes, requires k for access
• Selects trustworthy nodes based on reliability criteria