Title: A review on network function virtualisation security challenges and design considerations

Authors: Naveed Ahmad; Muhammad Siraj Rathore; Md Asri bin Ngadi

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering, University Teknologi Malaysia, 81110, Malaysia ' Faculty of Computing, Department of Computer Science, Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, 46000, Pakistan ' Faculty of Engineering, University Teknologi Malaysia, 81110, Malaysia

Abstract: Network function virtualisation (NFV) offers several benefits to both network operators and end users. It is a more programmable and low-cost solution as compared to a traditional network. Since the network functions are implemented in software, there is a great opportunity of extending a network according to the changing requirements of the customers. However, at the same time, there are many security threats since the same commodity hardware is shared among multiple virtualised network functions. In literature, various NFV security threats are reported. In this work, our aim is to consolidate them in a more structured and organised manners. We highlight the different building blocks of a NFV framework and then explore how a particular component may become the victim of an attacker. Finally, we summarise our lesson learned and present open research issues which might be useful for NFV practitioners and researchers.

Keywords: NFV; network functions virtualisation; virtualised network function; security threat; DDoS; distributed denial of service attack: malware injection attack.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2024.144081

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2024 Vol.31 No.4, pp.368 - 393

Received: 03 Apr 2024
Accepted: 27 Aug 2024
Published online: 24 Jan 2025 *

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