5G technology has had a slow start, but it is gathering momentum now, thanks to the rollout of the service in more areas and the launch of flagship 5G-enabled devices from the likes of Apple and Samsung. When 5G reaches all corners of the UK it will be of huge interest to businesses and anyone who has struggled with remote working or an unreliable home broadband.

5G is expected to bring higher speeds and increased coverage – leading to much more reliable wireless and mobile networks. Put simply, everything will get faster and better connected. There will also be much less latency (or lag) than 4G – you’ll be able to transfer more data, more efficiently, to more devices.

However, as with any new technology, 5G comes with new security challenges. Luckily, the soft launch of 5G means that businesses have time to ramp up security efforts, so here are some risks you need to know about:

Greater use = bigger risk

The 5G network is expected to be a lot larger than the 4G network, with far more devices online than ever before. With more devices comes more information, and a higher likelihood of a cyber-attack.

5G will allow for nearly all of your smart devices to communicate and exchange data with one and other. However, having many devices connected on a single network can raise some security concerns.

This means if the security of one of your smart devices is compromised, there may be a chance that all your connected devices—and the information they store, are vulnerable.  A massive information leak like this could be catastrophic both businesses and individuals.

Privacy

As we’ve covered above, the 5G network can handle a lot of data. That means it’ll also be easier to log all kinds of information about users and encourage us to capture and share more and more of our personal data. The more data about us is sent through the air, the bigger the chance that this data might fall into the wrong hands.

There has already been some concern in the headlines about Huawei who is developing 5G technology in China. Many people are worried about data privacy – mainly, who will have access to that data.

IoT

Security challenges can also stem from the need for 5G networks to support a massive number of connected devices. Through 5G it’s possible to connect thousands of internet-enabled devices simultaneously, from phones to IoT (internet of things) sensors.

But poorly-secured IoT devices will introduce a number of new weak points into home and workplace networks, giving hackers more opportunities to make their way in. The likelihood of hackers finding a poorly secured IoT device is high – and with faster connectivity, this will be even easier.

Using a botnet, hackers can take control of IoT devices and use them as weapons in a cyber-attack to take control of thousands of devices at a time. They may launch DDoS attacks that shut down websites and services for extended period or distribute malware as part of phishing campaigns that trick people out of their passwords or credit card details, and in many other scams.

Here are some ways to reduce these security risks:

Automation to detect threats

5G is a much more software and cloud-based system than previous wireless networks, which will allow for better monitoring to spot potential threats. And you’re going to need to be able to better monitor and analyse the increased amount of activity across your network, so machine learning and automated threat detection are necessary – manually looking at data will no longer work with the amount of data that 5G will bring.

Take a zero trust approach

A zero trust approach will help reduce the security risk that comes with 5G. This involves having strict identity verification for every person and device trying to access resources on a private network. Access is also determined by context and potential risk, e.g. is there a potential malware threat. In effect, you are not trusting anyone or anything until they have been verified.

Virtualised security

While hardware-based solutions like firewalls are still crucial to protecting your business, software-based security systems offer much-need flexibility and automation. They can be introduced quickly and moved around a distributed network as needed, to help protect and mitigate against threats instead of being tied to a device or physical server.

5G already enables ‘network slicing’, which allows operators to ‘fence off’ part of the network for a dedicated user or application, guaranteeing speed and capacity, and stopping anyone else from accessing that bandwidth. It’s also worth bearing in mind that all data sent over 5G is encrypted – making it harder for cybercriminals to track and manipulate individual device connections.

While 5G has already begun its rollout, most of us will still be waiting a while before we experience the incredible speeds that have been hyped. While the next step in mobile networks does promise to bring us a range of advantages, there are still a number of risks that need to be addressed.

For more information about 5G and how it can benefit your business, contact us at info@auratechnology.com