FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to user plane communications in a mobile network, and in particular relates to network security with regards to user plane communications.

BACKGROUND

Integrity and confidentiality of traffic between a User Equipment (UE) and Network may create a cost for processing power, and may also reduce the battery life, at a UE. Operating with no security may enable the deployment of devices with longer battery life and less processing power.

However, sending unprotected communications over the air can introduce security risks to the network and to the UE, including but not limited to eavesdropping; originator spoofing; injection of invalid data; or denial of service (DoS) attacks.

Unprotected connections may allow for possible corruption of the data on route, which may have an impact on the network infrastructure or performance.

Due to such risks, network operators are hesitant to allow connections to their network that are unprotected.

