The MARE project is building the foundations for secure, trustworthy and resilient 6G networks. While vision and architecture are essential, real progress comes from putting ideas into practice. This is where MARE’s Proofs of Concept (PoCs) will play a crucial role.
Across the lifetime of the project, MARE will design, implement and validate 11 Proofs of Concepts, each focused on a specific security or trust challenge expected to emerge in future 6G ecosystems. Together, these PoCs demonstrate how advanced technologies such as AI, automation, network programmability and data analytics can be used to protect next-generation networks in realistic scenarios.
Why Proofs of Concept Matter
Future 6G networks will be far more complex than today’s systems.
They will be:
- Highly distributed across cloud, core, edge and radio domains,
- Deeply interconnected with other networks and services,
- Increasingly driven by AI and automation,
- Open to external applications and partners.
This complexity creates new security risks – but also new opportunities to design smarter and more adaptive protection mechanisms.
The MARE PoCs are designed to bridge theory and practice, showing how security concepts can be applied, tested and validated in realistic network environments. They will help ensure that MARE’s solutions are innovative, practical, scalable and trustworthy.
The MARE Proofs of Concepts
- PoC 1: Network Critical Attacks/ORAN-related Attacks
- PoC 2: AI/ML-aided Threat Protection, Detection and Response for the 6G Core (6GC) Network
- PoC 3: Full Plane Threat Detection – Internal Attacks over Network Control Critical Elements
- PoC 4: Man in the Middle (MitM) – AI and Models
- PoC 5: IBN Data Tampering – Data and Intent Tampering Detection
- PoC 6: Security Effects of Tampered Data Ingestion by NWDAF
- PoC 7: Trustworthy Operation of AI
- PoC 8: Secure Network Digital Twin (SNDT)
- PoC 9: Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack from X-Edge
- PoC 10: Secure Exposure of Network Capabilities
- PoC 11: Attestation and Secure Information Sharing across Multiple Core Networks
Each PoC addresses a different aspect of security, ranging from protecting critical network functions and AI systems, to securing exposed interfaces, defending against large-scale attacks and enabling cooperation across multiple interconnected networks.
Supporting MARE’s Vision
Together, these PoCs help MARE fulfill its core mission to enable secure, adaptive and trustworthy 6G ecosystems. Instead of focusing on isolated threats, the PoCs reflect a holistic view of security – one that spans technology layers, network domains and organisational boundaries.
In the coming months, MARE will share dedicated blog posts for each PoC, explaining their goals and relevance in more detail. These entries will provide insight into how MARE is shaping the future of secure connectivity – one Proof of Concept at a time.
