Post-Quantum Cryptography in the 5G Core

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the practical impact of replacing 5G Core cryptography with post-quantum algorithms, finding minimal performance effects and confirming the feasibility of deployment without significant usability issues.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that post-quantum cryptography can be integrated into 5G Core networks without major performance drawbacks.

Findings

Small impact on bandwidth and latency

Post-quantum algorithms are feasible in 5G Core

No substantial effect on network usability

Abstract

In this work, the conventional cryptographic algorithms used in the 5G Core are replaced with post-quantum alternatives and the practical impact of this transition is evaluated. Using a simulation environment, we model the registration and deregistration of varying numbers of user equipments (UEs) and measure the resulting effects on bandwidth consumption and latency. Our results show that the deployment of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms has a measurable effect on performance, but that this effect is small, and perhaps more crucially, that the extra overhead needed in terms of computation and bandwidth does not have any substantial impact on the usability of the network and the efficiency of its network functions. Overall the experimental results in this work corroborate earlier research: the 5G Core is technically able to support post-quantum cryptography without any inherent issues connected to the increased computational overhead or larger message size.