Summary - X.2014 (03/2026) - Guidelines for using network digital twins for network security

Recommendation ITU-T X.2014 specifies requirements and use-cases of a digital twin network (DTN) to support security related network applications for unified and standardized interoperability and to guide stakeholders to construct, operate, maintain and use digital twin-based network security capabilities.
Digital twin network (DTN) provides a virtual representation of a physical network and may support network applications including security drill (Recommendation ITU-T Y.3090). With profound and full-scale understanding of historical, real-time and static network related data, DTN is able to be used as a test bed where various network situations could be sensed; security risk or security devices could be simulated; different security strategies could be generated, tested, optimized and decided. Some network security applications, such as security forecast, security operation, security device manufacture and so on, could be provided in a better and more intelligent way when supported by DTN. DTN has the capability to bring features like verifiability, real-time, crossing-time, visualization to network security applications.