Military 5G gets a security boost with anti-jamming research

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Moinul Hossain

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As communication networks evolve, they present both opportunities and security challenges to military technicians. Over the past year, Assistant Professor Moinul Hossain from George Mason University's Department of Cyber Security Engineering has contributed to a research initiative aimed at ensuring the safety and integrity of 5G networks used by the United States military. Sponsored by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and led by the University of Maryland (UMD), the project focused on safeguarding military communications against potential threats such as jamming attacks.

Hossain's colleagues will present their work, a research paper titled "Phantom Guard: An MDP-Based Anti-Jamming Defense Strategy for Military 5G Networks," at the end of this month at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Military Communications Conference (MILCOM). As Hossain will be on leave during the conference, George Mason doctoral student Mahmudul Hassan Ashik, who contributed to the project, will join ARL's Jeffrey Twigg and Fikadu Dagefu and UMD colleagues for the presentation.

Moinul Hossain. Photo provided

"As 5G technology becomes a cornerstone of global communications, safeguarding its security within military applications is crucial," said Ashik, who is working on a PhD in cyber security engineering. "Our research tackles these complex challenges of protecting sensitive data transmitted over 5G networks in high-risk, adversarial environments."

While commercial 5G is already widely used for communication between devices, the military's adoption of this technology necessitates additional measures to safeguard sensitive data and ensure secure communication, even in contested environments. Hossain's project, which began in May 2023 and concluded in August 2024, centered on addressing this critical security concern.

"5G is a major pillar of national security, alongside emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing," Hossain explained. "Its high throughput and low latency make it ideal for various applications, including the military. However, military use of 5G requires certain modifications to meet security standards, particularly to defend against adversarial threats like jamming."

Jamming occurs when an adversary sends a disruptive signal to interfere with communication channels, making it difficult for a receiver to decode the intended message. While this threat is not normally a concern for commercial 5G users, it is a major risk in military settings, where communication must be maintained even in hostile environments.

The research team focused on developing anti-jamming strategies to ensure military communications networks could withstand such attacks. Hossain likened this issue to bad actors compromising a secure office building (say, a headquarters) by infiltrating a less-protected satellite office. In military applications, particularly those involving unmanned vehicles or robots, compromising such resource-constrained devices could result in the loss of critical information at headquarters or even control over sensitive devices.

As the military continues to integrate emerging technologies like 5G into its operations, safeguarding these networks from adversarial threats becomes increasingly important. The collaboration between George Mason, UMD, and ARL demonstrates the critical role academic research plays in fortifying national security.

At MILCOM, the team's work will be shared with a wider audience of defense and communication experts, contributing to the ongoing efforts to secure military networks in a connected world.