6G antennas could 'see' us: How to prevent being spied on

The world is already looking beyond 5G to the next generation of mobile technology, 6G, which promises capabilities far beyond simple data transmission. 6G antennas are expected to function like powerful radars, capable of observing the environment, detecting motion, locating individuals, and even monitoring their physiological status. This advanced sensing ability raises significant privacy concerns about potential surveillance.

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This opens up enormous possibilities, such as monitoring a patient at home without them wearing any sensor. But it also poses serious risks: who controls that information? Can the network 'spy' on us? We are working precisely on how to make that detection capability secure and only accessible to those who have permission to use it, and even allow users to make themselves invisible.

To address these challenges, the European research project PAISES-6G, coordinated by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and involving 17 other organizations across 9 countries, is developing a framework for Pioneering AI-Enhanced Secure 6G Services. The project's goal is to harness 6G's sensing capabilities for threat detection using artificial intelligence while rigorously protecting user privacy.

Pablo Serrano, the project coordinator and a professor at UC3M, explained that the technology opens up vast possibilities, such as monitoring patients remotely without wearable sensors. However, he stressed the critical need to control this information and prevent the network from 'spying' on users. The project aims to ensure that sensing capabilities are secure, accessible only to authorized parties, and that users can maintain invisibility when desired.

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from the beginning, and not as a patch to existing networks.

The PAISES-6G initiative focuses on integrating a native security layer with AI for cybersecurity and post-quantum cryptography techniques. This approach ensures that security and ethical considerations are built into the 6G network from the outset, rather than being an afterthought. The research is particularly novel in its exploration of Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) technologies, which combine communication and sensing functions within the 6G standard. The project's three main technological pillars are AI for proactive cybersecurity, aiming to anticipate attacks; post-quantum security to counter future quantum computing threats; and privacy by design, ensuring user data is protected throughout the network's operation.

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systems capable of anticipating attacks before they occur, rather than merely reacting when something has already happened.