Security in lightweight network function virtualisation for federated cloud and IoT

Abstract

Smart IoT applications require connecting multiple IoT devices and networks with multiple services running in fog and cloud computing platforms. One approach to connecting IoT devices with cloud and fog services is to create a federated virtual network. The main benefit of this approach is that IoT devices can then interact with multiple remote services using an application specific federated network where no traffic from other applications passes. This federated network spans multiple cloud platforms and IoT networks but it can be managed as a single entity. From the point of view of security, federated virtual networks can be managed centrally and be secured with a coherent global network security policy. This does not mean that the same security policy applies everywhere, but that the different security policies are specified in a single coherent security policy. In this paper we propose to extend a federated cloud networking security architecture so that it can secure IoT devices and networks. The federated network is extended to the edge of IoT networks by integrating a federation agent in an IoT gateway or network controller (Can bus, 6LowPan, Lora,...). This allows communication between the federated cloud network and the IoT network. The security architecture is based on the concepts of network function virtualisation (NFV) and service function chaining (SFC) for composing security services. The IoT network and devices can then be protected by security virtual network functions (VNF) running at the edge of the IoT network.