User Review
( votes)Without regulation and strong proactive measures, 5G networks remain vulnerable to cyberattacks, and the responsibility falls on businesses and governments.
5G and IoT security
5G and IoT security- Seemingly everywhere you turn these days there is some announcement about 5G and the benefits it will bring, like greater speeds, increased efficiencies, and support for up to one million device connections on a private 5G network. All of this leads to more innovations and a significant change in how we do business.
But 5G also creates new opportunities for hackers.
Gartner predicts that 66% of organizations will take advantage of these benefits and adopt 5G by 2020 — with 59% of them planning to use 5G to support the Internet of Things across their business.
The 5G landscape today
Already, manufacturers including Nokia, Samsung, and Cisco have either started developing 5G enterprise solutions or have publicly announced plans to do so.
In the enterprise, full deployment of private 5G networks will take time, as it requires significant investments to upgrade legacy network infrastructures, observers say. In the meantime, there are instances of devices in the workplace already operating on a 5G network.
But using IoT devices without a private 5G network or adequate technical knowledge could put organizations’ and their employees’ privacy at risk.
“You absolutely have to have [5G security] on your radar right now,” said Monique Becenti, channel and product specialist at cybersecurity provider SiteLock. It’s also critical to have security measures in place for personal data.
“If you’re using a mobile device for banking transactions you’re leaving that susceptible to an attacker intercepting that data,” she said. “With 5G, our main concern is with IoT innovations.”
Often, developers face pressure to get software quickly to market so critical testing could be missed, Becenti said. “With 5G this isn’t any different–especially in a market where security may not be top of mind.”
