Blockchain-Based Network Hawkeye Function: Building the Trust Triangle in 6G

Clients, service providers (SPs), and manufacturers lay the foundation for 6G networking, and thus the direct relationships between them are abstracted as the trust triangle of telecommunications. As one component among three, manufacturers are facing considerable criticism from SPs and clients regarding cybersecurity and privacy, which compromises the whole trust triangle. Therefore, we aim to develop a block-chain-based framework to rebuild and maintain the trust triangle in this study. The introduction of blockchain sheds light on building a decentralized digital forensics model for the trust triangle. After analyzing the potential threats and vulnerabilities, we first design the Blockchain-based Network Hawkeye Function (BNHF) to provide an open and privacy-preserving way for clients watching SPs, SPs monitoring manufacturers, and manufacturers proving themselves trustworthy. We offer a practical BNHF solution compatible with 5G and envision its evolution for 6G. Furthermore, we propose two BNHF-aided mechanisms in clients' interests to help construct a complete trust triangle. Comprehensive test results under experimental networking setups illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.