Page 103 - SAMENA Trends - February 2020
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ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS
ARTICLE
Implications of 5G on Cybersecurity
Telecommunications networks have laid the foundation for the technologies that the
world depends on. Owing to their scale and criticality, mobile operators have become
a major target for cyber-attacks. The data boom that accompanied 4G created vast
amounts of valuable data for the telecommunications industry and the same can be
expected at a much larger scale with the proliferation of new technologies like 5G
and IoT. Specifically, 5G’s network design brings about a number of upgrades to the
network infrastructure that consequently implies network security challenges that
require careful and effective mitigation.
1. Cybersecurity concerns posed by 5G
5G entails several infrastructural modifications to traditional telecoms networks that
could pose increased security risks. The most critical security risks / concerns posed
Rohan Dhamija by 5G are as follows –
• Move towards software defined networking: which leads to a decentralization of
Partner, Head – Middle East & core functions that were originally centralised and hence, well protected
South Asia, Analysys Mason • Virtualization of network functions: which can increase the risk of cyber-attacks
because providing the same level of security as physical appliances will be difficult
• Much larger scale: with the expected large-scale proliferation of small cells and
the number of connections (IoT-enabled devices running on 5G), the number of
attack vectors for cyber-attacks will increase significantly
Shashwat Mishra
Consultant, Analysys Mason
Figure 1: Key cybersecurity concerns posed by 5G
Malek El Damouri [Source: Analysys Mason]
Associate Consultant, Analysys Mason
103 FEBRUARY 2020
