Founded in 1876, Ericsson has an extensive history in shaping the way the world communicates. Currently, more than 40% of the world’s mobile traffic passes through networks provided by Ericsson, which collectively manages networks serving more than 1 billion subscribers. .
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, we sat down with Mononen Keijo, Head of Security Solutions at Ericsson, to discuss a variety of topics, from the company’s solutions to advances in AI and the need for a Zero Trust approach. Ta.
Mr. Mononen, a cybersecurity expert with 20 years of security experience in the telecommunications network field, begins by highlighting Ericsson’s extensive capabilities in the network security field.
“We are building solutions based on Ericsson’s secure products and multi-vendor third-party products,” he explains. “Our goal is to protect the network end-to-end, from the core to the radio, but also vertically, from the full stack to the operating system, to the cloud, to cloud infrastructure, to communications applications, and for mobile. Zero Trust is the use of his architectural principles for communication networks. “
Zero trust is essential to enable AI innovation
Mononen highlights the role of emerging technologies such as AI in reimagining network security. While AI has the potential to enhance security capabilities, including acting as an assistant to cybersecurity experts, he emphasizes the importance of building a robust foundational security framework.
“First of all, I believe that AI is part of evolution. AI will make a contribution in the future, and we are already seeing that contribution starting today. What AI brings is the evolution of security into the future where AI can actually detect new things.
“But I think it’s really important to do the basics first. We need to put protections in there.”
Zero Trust has emerged as a game changer for carriers, offering a holistic approach to network security. Mononen cites guidelines set by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and emphasizes their importance in the context of 5G networks.
From micro-perimeter protection to continuous monitoring and threat detection for 5G networks, Zero Trust architectures enable communication service providers (CSPs) to meet regulatory challenges and strengthen their security posture.
“You have to assume that there is a compromise within your network. This means that you are actually securing your network with a micro-perimeter across all your assets. You also have mutual session-based authentication configured. We also need to make sure we are there.”
“You also need to continually monitor your network for your security posture and ensure that all settings are present in your infrastructure as well as your mobile applications. Monitor and collect data from your network and use it to identify threats. Detection, which is built for 5G networks or mobile networks in general, and includes very unique solutions such as fake base station detection.
“All of this boils down to creating Zero Trust for 5G, a comprehensive way to manage security within a CSP’s network so they can meet regulatory requirements and sleep well at night. .”
