CYBER-THREAT PROPAGATION OVER NETWORK-SLICING ARCHITECTURES

This work deals with cyber-threat propagation across a communication network designed according to the network-slicing paradigm. Exploiting the multi-dimensional Birth-Death-Immigration model, we examine threat percolation from a vulnerable slice to a virtually secured slice. The analysis quantifies the role played by slice-coupling on threat propagation, revealing how cross-slice attacks can be particularly dangerous in applications where the attacker opens a door in some slice relative, e.g., to ordinary services, breaking through into a slice that delivers critical services such as healthcare of financial services.