Presenters:
Rafael F. Schaefer,TU Dresden, Germany
Gerhard P. Fettweis, TU Dresden, Germany
Thuy M. Pham,Barkhausen Institut, Germany
Stefan Kopsell , Barkhausen Institut, Germany
Abstract:
As we approach the 6G era, establishing a trustworthy 6G system design is imperative to meet the complex security and privacy challenges, especially those posed by advanced technologies such as joint communication and sensing and AI. This tutorial explores the possibility of rethinking security protocols from the bottom up, with a particular focus on the often-overlooked physical layer. While past generations of mobile networks, from 1G to 5G, have transformed communication, they have also exposed vulnerabilities in security, privacy, and trustworthiness that require special attention. This tutorial introduces the unique challenges presented by the access network and advocates for a holistic security approach that encompasses all the network layers. Key topics of interest include the concept of trustworthiness, the importance of security and privacy in the 6G era, the implications of joint communication and sensing technology, the existing physical layer security principles, including wiretap-coding, secret key generation, and device authentication, and strategies to combat sophisticated attacks. By embedding security principles across the network architecture, attendees will gain insights into a trustworthy wireless system design. This tutorial aims to equip participants with the fundamental knowledge to navigate through the complexities of 6G and contribute to developing trustworthy and resilient 6G systems.
Biographies:
Rafael F. Schaefer (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, in 2007, and the Dr.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the Technische Universität München, Germany, in 2012. He is a Professor and the Head of the Chair of Information Theory and Machine Learning, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany. Since 2023, he is also leading the Wireless Connectivity and Sensing Group at the Barkhausen Institut, Dresden, Germany. Among his publications is the book Information Theoretic Security and Privacy of Information Systems (Cambridge University Press, 2017). He was a recipient of the VDE Johann-Philipp-Reis Award in 2013. He received the Joy Thomas Tutorial Paper Award in 2025 and Best Paper Awards from the German Information Technology Society (ITG-Preis) in 2016 and IEEE Global Communications Conference in 2023.
Gerhard P. Fettweis (Fellow, IEEE) earned a Ph.D. under H. Meyr at RWTH Aachen (Germany) in 1990. After a postdoc at IBM Research, San Jose, he joined TCSI, Berkeley, USA. Since 1994, he has been Vodafone Chair Professor at Dresden University of Technology, Germany. Additionally, since 2018, he is the founding Scientific Director & CEO of the Barkhausen Institute. He researches wireless transmission and chip design, focusing on trustworthiness at the Barkhausen Institute. He coordinates the 5G++Lab Germany and the German Cluster-for-Future SEMECO. His team has spun out 19 tech startups, and he initiated 6 platform corporations. Gerhard is a member of the German Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), the German Academy of Engineering (Acatech), and the US National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of IEEE, ITG, the US National Academy of Inventors (NAI), EURASIP, DATE, and WWRF. He is active in helping organize IEEE conferences and is on the Editorial Board of Proceedings of the IEEE.
Thuy M. Pham (Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in wireless communications from Maynooth University, Ireland. In 2018, he worked for Airrays GmbH, Germany, as a part-time Research Engineer on an LTE project. Since 2020, he has been with Barkhausen Institute. Recently, he has been a TPC member of IEEE ICC 2023/2024 and TPC Chair/General Chair of workshops on Enabling Security, Trust, and Privacy in 6G Wireless Systems at IEEE Globecom/ICC 2023–2025. He has also coordinated an EU COST Action entitled Physical Layer Security for Trustworthy and Resilient 6G Systems (CA22168).
Stefan Köpsell received the Dipl.-Inf. degree in computer science from the Dresden University of Technology, Germany, in 1999, and the Dr.-Ing. degree in computer science from the same university in 2010. He has been a member of the privacy and security chair of Dresden University of Technology since 2000 and has headed the trustworthy data processing group of Barkhausen Institute since 2019. He has worked for 25 years in the domain of privacy and security in and by distributed systems. In recent years, his focus has been on security and privacy in the Internet of Things (IoT) and especially 6G systems.