Secure Semantic Communications: Challenges, Approaches, and Opportunities

Meng Shen*, Jing Wang, Hongyang Du, Dusit Niyato, Xiangyun Tang, Jiawen Kang, Yaoling Ding, Liehuang Zhu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Semantic communication has emerged as a promising technique that can integrate the meaning and context of information into a communication process. It goes beyond raw data transmission and enables a sender and a receiver to transmit and recover semantic messages through their respective knowledge bases. However, it is challenging to achieve secure semantic communication due to complicated security and privacy threats in semantic communication. In this article, we first introduce the background and architecture of semantic communication. Then, we sort out multiple potential security threats existing in each step of semantic communication. Following that, we summarize the requirements for secure semantic communication and provide possible defenses for each type of attacks. We also present a case study to illustrate the training process of a reliable semantic encoder/decoder. Finally, we discuss open issues and future directions in this research field.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)197-206
Number of pages10
JournalIEEE Network
Volume38
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Keywords

  • Privacy Protection
  • Security Threats
  • Semantic Communication
  • Sixth Generation (6G)

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Shen, M., Wang, J., Du, H., Niyato, D., Tang, X., Kang, J., Ding, Y., & Zhu, L. (2024). Secure Semantic Communications: Challenges, Approaches, and Opportunities. IEEE Network, 38(4), 197-206. https://doi.org/10.1109/MNET.2023.3327111