Vodafone, Telstra and Optus have announced they will begin phasing out their 3G networks across Australia and New Zealand over the next 12 months to make way for 5G.
True 5G is very different from 3G and 4G and promises significant performance and capacity improvements. However, only a fraction of 5G capabilities are currently being deployed, and we are yet to experience its ultimate capabilities or fully understand the scope of its security implications.
New global report from cloud security experts Thales – 2023 Data Threat Report, Communications Edition – We found that 81% of communications professionals are concerned about security risks not only from their own infrastructure, but also from third-party devices connected to their networks.
While ensuring the security of their 5G systems and data, telcos are also expected to protect their millions of customers across industries in an environment that is a high-value target for attackers. However, telecom providers suffer from higher levels of human error (50%) than any other industry (35% on average), and just 1% of respondents encrypt more than 90% of their sensitive data. Therefore, more needs to be done to prepare the region. This is to strengthen 5G deployment.
Brian Grant, APAC 5G Market Leader at Thales Cloud Security, highlights the key security challenges facing the region’s telecom industry. Replacing 3G, and in the future he 4G, with fifth generation (5G) network technology is not a quick and easy task. Unsurprisingly, security is a major concern across the telecommunications industry and broader enterprise and government markets. ”
“True 5G will be very different from traditional 3G and 4G networks. It will significantly improve performance and capacity, and deliver critical network functions as virtualized services, hosted centrally or in the cloud. We have the potential to push services to the edge of the network, making them faster and less latency-bound than ever before.”
“The advent of larger, faster 5G network capacity comes with significant social and business opportunities. It is the ultimate promise of possibility. But it also brings new risks. , which offers the advantage of near-instantaneous execution, but at the same time carries the risk of near-instantaneous consequences if the system is compromised. Manual intervention is not available. 5G Security Responsibilities in the Age of Autonomous Systems If not taken seriously, the consequences can be catastrophic.
“While there is still much that telecom providers cannot predict about the future deployment and security threats of 5G, the fact remains that 5G, like any digital system, is built on data. As a result, embedded data security is paramount to ensuring the positive potential of 5G is realized.”
Data Threat Report, Telecommunications Edition 2023 – Overview
- More than three-quarters (81%) of telecom respondents are concerned about 5G security risks
- Three-quarters (78%) are most concerned about protecting the identities of devices, people, and things connected to 5G networks.
- Nine in 10 (87%) report human error as the most identified security threat, with a third (33%) naming it the top threat.
- Attackers’ primary targets are cloud-based resources. Cloud storage (33%), followed by SaaS apps, cloud databases, and cloud-hosted IaaS/PaaS.
- 80% of Telco respondents use two or more cloud providers, with an average of 113 SaaS apps.This is he 16% higher than other industries
- Almost half (44%) of telecom respondents say they have experienced a data breach in a cloud environment.
- Half (50%) of telecommunications survey respondents said that human error or misconfiguration allows attackers to break into their systems. This is higher than any other industry where the global average is 35% of his.
- Alarmingly, just over one in ten (13%) respondents say 60% of their cloud data is encrypted, with more than 90% of sensitive data encrypted. was only 1%.
- More than half (53%) of telecom respondents say managing data in the cloud is more complex than on-premises environments.
You can read the full report here.
