A Novel Method in Hybrid Encryption for Enhanced 5G Networks Security

Encryption is one of the most important security methods in Fifth Generation (5G) networks, offering high speed and security to support enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), as well as Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC). Each algorithm (Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Data Encryption Standard (DES), ZUC, Synchronous Network-Oriented Word-oriented stream cipher, version 3G (Snow3G)) has distinct strengths and weaknesses in speed and security. Therefore, this research presents two new hybrid models: ZUC-AES (combining the speed of ZUC with the strength of AES) and SNOW3G-DES (combining the speed of SNOW3G with the strength of DES). The models were simulated in MATLAB for data up to 5,000,000 bits, the results simulating six algorithms in MATLAB showed an improvement in strength compared to conventional algorithms, with the p-value on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) SP 800-22 test improving by approximately average 50% for ZUC-AES (0.4323) compared to ZUC alone (0.288). ZUC was found to be the fastest of all with time 0.85s to 1000000 bit, while the third model, ZUC-AES, achieved superior results compared to AES and DES, while closely matching Snow3G's performance. The study proposed integrating RSA into the system to encrypt keys for secure exchange and increase the strength of encryption.