This work emerges from the intensifying need to understand and address security issues in rapidly advancing technologies such as 5G and beyond, including open radio access network (O-RAN). The current paper provides an in-depth examination of the security aspects of the E2 interface within the O-RAN context. The research underscores the diverse roles that the E2 interface assumes in enabling communication between the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) and the E2 node. It critically examines the various vulnerabilities and potential security threats of this interface. This work subsequently reviews the security mechanisms and methodologies proposed by the O-RAN Alliance to secure the E2 interface. This work aims to highlight the crucial role that the E2 interface undertakes in the network's overall communication and the indispensable security questions, given the stakes of these networks. The findings from this work could serve as a valuable addition to existing resources and provide insightful perspectives for future research in this field. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential directions for future work on the security of the E2 interface.

This work presents some impact of DDoS attacks on 5G system

The fifth-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) promises communication services with high reliability, extremely low latency, high capacity, lower complexity, longer battery-life devices, and high user density in order to support the most well-known use cases of latency-aware Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), unlimited-things-centric Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), and bandwidth-devouring enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB). To facilitate the exploitation and implementation of this new radio access technology, the so-called private 5G campus networks are expected to become widely used, utilizing multiple access techniques, frequency bands, and the entire underlying wireless infrastructure of public networks for private businesses, vertical industries, and manufacturing. The primary purpose of this type of communication network is to enable businesses, vertical industries, service sectors, universities, and even individuals to take advantage of 5G tailored to their specific activities or to develop their own local networks. Thus, the different advantages of such a technological revolution can be separately exploited by various stakeholders, and at the same time, the scientific community will be able to easily participate in its research and development aimed at addressing its shortcomings. Taking into account both the business and technical benefits, the grand objective of this study is to provide an overview of the security aspects of the private 5G campus networks. To that end, we first focus on the characterization of private 5G campus networks and discuss some background on a number of industrial applications that these types of networks can support. Then, we identify their different security flaws and potential origins. Finally, we highlight several research challenges that need to be addressed.