Abstract-There are several reports and white papers which attempt to precise 5G architectural requirements presenting them from different points of view, including techno-socio-economic impacts and technological constraints. Most of them deal with network slicing aspects as a central point, often strengthening slices with slice isolation. The goal of this paper is to present and examine the isolation capabilities and selected approaches for its realization in network slicing context. As the 5G architecture is still evolving, the specification of isolated slices operation and management brings new requirements that need to be addressed, especially in a context of End-to-End (E2E) security. Thus, an outline of recent trends in slice isolation and a set of challenges are proposed, which (if properly addressed) could be a step to E2E user's security based on slices isolation.

Although 5G (fifth generation) networks are still in the realm of ideas, their architecture can be considered as reaching a forming phase. There are several reports and white papers which attempt to precise 5G architectural requirements presenting them from different points of view, including techno-socio-economic impacts and technological constraints. Most of them deal with network slicing aspects as a central point, often strengthening slices with slice isolation. The idea of isolation in the network is not new. However, currently considered technologies give new capabilities that can bring added value in this field. The goal of this paper is to present and examine the isolation capabilities and selected approaches to its realization in network slicing context. As the 5G architecture is still evolving, the specification of isolated slices operation and management brings new requirements that need to be addressed, especially in a context of end-to-end (E2E) security. Thus, an outline of recent trends in slice isolation and a set of challenges are presented. The challenges, if properly addressed, could be a step from the concept of 5G networks to proof-of-concept solutions which provide E2E user's security based on slices isolation. Among other things, the key features are proper slice design and establishment, security at interfaces, suitable access protocols, correct virtual resources sharing, and an adaptable management and orchestration architecture (MANO). In conclusion of the paper, short outlines of two of the main secure isolation challenges are given: a proper definition of isolation parameters and designing suitable MANO system. which is close to end users and ensuring an end-toend security services chain realized by virtualized open access physical layer security (PLS). These novel crosslayer approaches to security address such areas as: data confidentiality, data integrity, provider's resources isolation, and authentication and authorization. The security aspects of 5G networks are discussed in 5G-ENSURE project [3]. Main goals of the initiative focus on developing non-intrusive security and privacy mechanisms, which will ensure the following: AAA services, privacy, trust, network management and monitoring, and virtualization isolation for the core 5G architecture. Within the project, the 5G security testbed with proposed security components was demonstrated. The 5G NORMA (Novel Radio Multi-service adaptive network Architecture) [4] project has the key objective to develop a novel, adaptive, and future-oriented 5G mobile network architecture. The created architecture should provide network customizability and, at the same time, ensure meeting requirements associated with rigorous performance, energy saving, cost

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5G is the fifth-generation cellular network satisfying the requirements IMT-2020 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2020) of the International Telecommunication Union. Mobile network operators started using it worldwide in 2019. Generally, 5G achieves exceptionally high values of performance parameters of access and transmission. The application of edge servers facilitated the implementation of such requirements of 5G, which resulted in 5G MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing) technology. Moreover, to optimize services for specific business applications, the concept of 5G vertical industries has been proposed. In this paper, we study how the application of the MEC technology affects the functioning of 5G MEC-based services. We consider twelve representative vertical industries of 5G MEC by presenting their essential characteristics, threats, vulnerabilities, and known attacks. Next, we analyze their functional properties, give efficiency patterns and identify the effect of applying the MEC technology in 5G on the resultant network's quality parameters to identify the expected security requirements. Finally, we identify the impact of classified threats on the 5G empowered vertical industries and identify the most sensitive cases to focus on their protection against network attacks in the first place.

5G networks are expected to be a set of slices which are virtual subnets designed for specific applications. A crucial requirement for providing proper functioning of the network and its security is proper isolation of slices. The aim of this paper is to propose a new method of determination of the isolation level of a slice. We propose a Graph-based model of the sliced network, which has a layered structure. In each layer, the appropriate network elements have their own isolation level. The lowest layer of the Graph-based model represents virtual network elements with isolation traits used for calculating their isolation level. Climbing to the top of the stack of layers one can calculate, successively, isolation level for a network's physical element, a link, subnetworks and, the End-to-End slice's isolation level. We present numerical examples, where suitable traits are specified and the isolation level in each layer is calculated.