Secure Communications, Sensing, and Computing Towards Next-Generation Networks

2026-02-23

AI Summary

This work addresses the security and privacy challenges arising from the deep integration of communication, sensing, and computing in next-generation wireless networks. It presents the first systematic unification of security considerations across these three domains, proposing an end-to-end, cross-layer cooperative security framework. By integrating cutting-edge techniques—including physical-layer security, semantic/pragmatic communication security, privacy-preserving sensing, and secure coded computation—the framework establishes a comprehensive defense mechanism spanning the entire data pipeline. The study not only identifies novel attack surfaces and risk mechanisms inherent to such integrated architectures but also provides theoretical foundations and practical pathways to enhance data privacy, authentication, and overall system robustness.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Internet of Things, Sensor Networks & Smart Cities
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Privacy & Security
• Machine Learning: Privacy

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web applications in cross-disciplinary domains and verticals such as mixed reality, smart cities, and digital health
• Semantics and Knowledge: Provenance, trust, security and privacy, and ethical issues in managing semantic data

Abstract

Next-generation wireless networks are progressing beyond conventional connectivity to incorporate emerging sensing and computing capabilities. This convergence gives rise to integrated systems that enable not only uninterrupted communication, but also environmental awareness, intelligent decision-making, and novel applications that take advantage of these combined features. At the same time, this integration brings substantial security challenges. As computing, sensing, and communication become more tightly intertwined, the overall complexity of the system increases, creating new vulnerabilities and expanding the attack surface. The widespread deployment of data-heavy artificial intelligence applications further amplifies concerns regarding data security and privacy. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of security and privacy threats, along with potential countermeasures, in integrated wireless systems. We first review physical-layer security techniques for communication networks, and then investigate the security and privacy implications of semantic and pragmatic communications and their associated cross-layer design methodologies. For sensing functionalities, we pinpoint security and privacy risks at the levels of signal sources, propagation channels, and sensing targets, and summarize state-of-the-art defense strategies for each. The growing computational requirements of these applications drive the need for distributed computing over the network, which introduces additional risks such as data leakage, weak authentication, and multiple points of failure. We subsequently discuss secure coded computing approaches that can help overcome several of these challenges. Finally, we introduce unified security frameworks tailored to integrated communication-sensing-computing architectures, offering an end-to-end perspective on protecting future wireless systems.

Problem

• Secure Communications
• Integrated Sensing
• Distributed Computing
• Privacy Threats
• Attack Surface

Innovation

• integrated sensing and communication
• physical-layer security
• semantic communication
• secure coded computing
• unified security framework