DDoS impact assessment on 5G system performance

5G systems are expected to provide faster and more reliable communication services, but they also face new challenges in terms of security and resilience. One of the major threats to 5G systems is distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, which pose a significant risk to the stability and reliability of 5G systems. In this article, we investigate the impact of DDoS attacks on a real 5G network, specifically the radio access network (gNB). Our findings show that DDoS attacks significantly degrade key performance metrics, such as latency, jitter, packet loss, and bitrate, leading to an increasing malfunction or breakdown of the system. We stress the importance of incorporating resilience against DDoS attacks into policy and regulatory frameworks, the need for collaboration with regulatory bodies to define security standards and compliance requirements, and fostering information sharing and coordination among 5G stakeholders. We conclude that 5G systems require a holistic and collaborative approach to address the DDoS challenge, involving technical, organizational, and legal aspects.