5G and 6G Networks: Advances in Self-Organizing, Cybersecurity and Privacy
A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensor Networks".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 September 2025 | Viewed by 78
Special Issue Editors
Interests: telecommunications; computer networks; cybersecurity and data privacy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
With the world transitioning from 5G to more advanced 6G technologies, this Special Issue will explore critical challenges and innovative solutions in self-organization, cybersecurity, and privacy in these networks.
With advancements in network capabilities, the concept of self-organizing networks (SONs) has triggered research developments in automated configuration, optimization, and healing. Developments in these areas are important for enhancing network efficiency, reducing operational costs, and ensuring seamless, adaptive, and resilient connectivity in increasingly complex 5G and 6G wireless communication systems.
As these technologies assume ultra-fast, low-latency networks and more interconnected devices, they also introduce new vulnerabilities, security risks, and privacy-related concerns. Thus, research and developments are expected to face emerging threats, ensuring the security of critical infrastructure, IoT devices, AI-driven applications, and massive data exchanges, while addressing risks such as cyberattacks, privacy breaches, and network vulnerabilities in an increasingly interconnected world.
This Special Issue invites contributions that address these multifaceted challenges, offering insights into strategies for ensuring network resilience, protecting data privacy, and optimizing network performance while considering ethical and regulatory standards.
This Special Issue is dedicated to a diverse array of research topics related to 5G and 6G, including, but not limited to, the following:
- Advances in AI-driven automation for self-organizing networks in 5G and 6G;
- Machine learning algorithms for dynamic network optimization;
- Energy-efficient self-organizing network architectures;
- Self-healing mechanisms for fault tolerance in next-generation networks;
- Adaptive resource allocation and traffic management in SONs;
- AI-based threat detection and mitigation in 5G/6G networks;
- Zero Trust security models for 5G/6G technologies ;
- Securing edge computing and network slicing in 5G/6G environments;
- Post-quantum cryptography for next-generation wireless networks;
- Cybersecurity challenges in massive IoT deployments over 5G and 6G;
- Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) in 5G/6G communications;
- Secure and privacy-preserving AI models for network intelligence;
- Blockchain applications for secure and decentralized mobile networks;
- Differential privacy techniques for user data protection in 5G and 6G;
- Secure identity management and authentication in next-generation networks;
- Lightweight cryptographic methods for constrained IoT devices;
- Federated Learning and distributed AI security in mobile architectures.
Dr. Pedro Pinto
Dr. Silvestre Malta
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- 5G
- 6G
- security
- privacy protection
- network vulnerabilities
- cryptographic techniques
- SON
- IoT security
- data integrity
- cyber resilience
- advanced threat mitigation
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