Advancing Zero Trust for 6G Security
A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Communications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 332
Special Issue Editors
Interests: network management and security; zero trust architecture; trust management; game theory
Interests: maritime communication networks; large-scale distributed antenna systems; coordinated satellite-UAV-terrestrial networks
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The advent of sixth-generation (6G) networks promises transformative advancements in global connectivity, enabling seamless integration of billions of devices, humans, and intelligent systems across space, air, and ground. However, the inherent openness, ultra-large scale, and heterogeneity of 6G amplifies unprecedented security challenges. Traditional perimeter-based defenses are becoming increasingly inadequate against sophisticated threats, such as AI-driven attacks, cross-domain botnets, and quantum-enabled breaches. Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), with its foundational principle of "never trust, always verify", has emerged as a cornerstone for securing hyperconnected environments in 6G.
Zero Trust has evolved from enterprise-centric models (e.g., Google’s BeyondCorp) to a dynamic framework for distributed systems. While existing Zero Trust Architectures (ZTAs) demonstrate strong capabilities in mitigating data breaches and lateral movement within localized environments, their effectiveness is constrained in 6G scenarios due to scalability demands, device heterogeneity, resource-constrained user equipment, and the rise of AI-driven threats.
This Special Issue aims to bridge the gap between ZTA’s potential and 6G’s unique demands, focusing on novel methodologies, cross-disciplinary innovations, and solutions to unresolved challenges in dynamic, large-scale networks. Contributions should emphasize practical applicability, scalability, and forward-looking solutions to shape the next generation of Zero Trust ecosystems. Researchers, developers, and industry experts are welcome to submit their work, which may focus on fundamental methodological studies or use cases and application demonstrations. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Real-time trust evaluation in ultra-large-scale networks.
- Low-latency trust evaluation in mission-critical applications (e.g., autonomous systems).
- Trust mechanisms for satellite-terrestrial integration and UAV swarm coordination.
- Blockchain-based trust systems balancing transparency, efficiency, and privacy.
- Privacy-preserving collaborative threat intelligence across organizational boundaries.
- Post-quantum digital certificates and decentralized identity mechanisms for IoT and edge nodes.
- Smart contracts for decentralized access control and auditable trust logs.
- Decentralized identity management for heterogeneous devices (e.g., UAVs, satellites, and IoT).
- Cross-domain trust evaluation and collaborative defense mechanisms.
- Resilient architectures against adversarial machine learning and supply chain attacks.
- Zero Trust enforcement in dynamically partitioned network slices in 6G.
- Interoperability of trust systems across heterogeneous blockchains.
- Integration of ZTA with Open RAN (O-RAN) and network slicing.
- Economic and regulatory frameworks for multi-stakeholder ZTA adoption.
Dr. Xu Chen
Prof. Dr. Wei Feng
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- zero trust
- 6G networks
- trust management
- decentralized identity
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