An Immunology-Inspired Network Security Architecture

The coming 5G networks have been enabling the creation of a wide variety of new services and applications which demand a new network security architecture. Immunology is the study of the immune system (primarily) in vertebrates (including humans) which protects us from infection through various lines of defense. By studying the resemblance between the immune system and the network security system, we acquire some inspirations from immunology and distill some guidelines for the design of network security architecture. We present a philosophical design principle, that is maintaining the balance between security and availability. Then, we derive two methodological principles: 1) achieving situation-awareness and fast response through cooperation among heterogeneous nodes; 2) enhancing defense capability through consistently contesting with invaders in a real environment and actively mutating/evolving attack strategies. We also present a reference architecture design based on the principles.