Establishing the right security approach for emerging 5G networks is critical.
That’s because the downside of 5G architecture is that it expands the threat landscape by increasing the number of intrusion points. 5G radio network deployments include significant expansions of small cells connecting over untrusted networks, device-to-device communications, and devices connecting to multiple cells at once.
5G is all about delivering higher data speeds, latency improvements and the functional redesign of mobile networks to enable greater agility, efficiency and openness. Although these improvements will yield revenue opportunities for operators, the explosion of low-cost, low-power, unsecured IoT/sensors will also pose increased security risks for both operators and end users.
With billions of connected devices and critical enterprise applications relying on 5G networks, experts in this area believe mobile network operators (MNOs) cannot wait to address attacks and security incidents after they have already happened.
Fact is, cyberattacks can already evade mobile network security, and simply making legacy security run faster isn’t an effective maneuver. Legacy approaches that depend on disparate security elements will not scale or be able to adequately prevent successful attacks across 5G networks.
Many 5G security professionals believe MNOs need to adopt a comprehensive security strategy – one that might include elements such as:
- Cloud-based threat analytics + big data and machine learning algorithms that can be used across different mobile network locations to provide swift response to known and unknown threats in real time.
- Contextual security outcomes using data-driven threat prevention to find and isolate infected devices before attacks take place.
- Complete inspection, visibility and controls that are applied across all layers of the network including application, signaling and data planes.
- Security functions integrated with open APIs to provide accountable security across hardware and software in support of distributed 5G architectures.
Want to learn more about 5G security? Tonex offers a good selection of contemporary, relevant Wireless Security Training courses.
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