Special issue of Telecommunications Systems on security, privacy and trust for beyond-3G networks

Abstract

It is in our days more clear than ever that the average user is a constant microor macrotraveller, a nomad moving around the Globe ever hungry for connectivity. To foster this need, present and future generation networks are offered as a combination of highly diversified technologies in the access, backhaul and core (e.g., wireless, mobile, fixed lines) enabling provision of heterogeneous services. In certain cases to achieve interworking, popular standards (e.g., IP) realise a unified environment that enables the convergence/synergy between traditional and emerging technologies offering ubiquitous services to a variety of end users. The recent advances in fixed, wireless and mobile telecommunication technologies allowed connectivity in a large variety of environments, such as at home, in business places, during travel (e.g., cars, airplanes, trains, ships). Moreover, ad-hoc and sensor networks allowed infrastructure-less provision of services establishing survivable, efficient, dynamic communication for emergency situations. Under this setting of technological advancements and the newly introduced services the modern communications environment is challenged by new security, privacy and trust risks. In this Special issue I present a collection of complementary articles that address security, privacy and trust in Beyond-3G Networks. The Special Issue received a large collection of articles covering many different fields of interest around the topic both from academic institutions and the industry. Through careful review by experts in each field and the editor himself, a collection of eight works is included in