- 5G networks are rolling out across the globe, promising faster speeds and lower latency.
- Many businesses will benefit from 5G, but not all will need it.
- If you’re deploying 5G, consider the benefits of public vs. private and hire the right experts.
- This article is part of “5G Playbook,” a series exploring one of the most significant technological innovations of our time.
The widespread rollout of 5G networks around the world will provide organizations with the opportunity to transform their operations and take advantage of the new technology. A June 2022 survey by UK5G, a coalition of commercial and educational organizations supporting the adoption of 5G technology in the UK, found that nearly half of UK businesses plan to invest in mobile network technology in the next 12 months. A GMD Research report estimates that the global 5G enterprise market could be worth more than $83 billion by 2031.
5G is the latest version of ultra-fast mobile internet, offering greater capacity, speeds and lower latency than the previous generation of 4G mobile internet, enabling consumers to use mobile internet for a variety of business and personal purposes.
But these potential benefits come with risks that companies and engineers must carefully manage. 5G technology and cybersecurity experts Rahim Tafazolli and Alan Woodward of the University of Surrey spoke to Insider about the key steps organizations can take to develop secure 5G networks.
1. Understand your needs and hire the right staff
The first thing to ask is whether you need a 5G network and, if so, how far it will go. Factors like traffic, security levels, and latency requirements will all determine how you can safely and securely build out your 5G plan.
This requires trained staff, says Tafazoli, founder and director of 5GIC, 6GIC and the University of Surrey’s Telecommunications Systems Institute. “Most of these organisations are not experts in the telecom industry,” he says. “They have IT people, but they need communications skills to manage, maintain and support a telecommunications network.”
2. Evaluate public and private 5G options
If you don’t have all the necessary communications skills, it’s much safer to rely on a company that does to provide you with a secure 5G network. In that case, a public 5G network slice provided by a mobile operator could be better than a private, on-premise 5G network that you would have to maintain in-house.
By choosing to be part of an existing public network, “you don’t have to bother as much with maintaining and supporting those systems,” Tafazolli said.
But Woodward, a cybersecurity expert and visiting professor at the Surrey Cyber Security Centre, said some organisations may prefer a private network that they manage themselves, despite the overhead of managing it, “because they handle sensitive data or have competitive concerns,” and that private networks are generally more secure.
3. Leverage 5G configurable security
Business owners and IT leaders may believe security concerns require them to adopt private networks, but 5G is a fundamentally different technology.
“When people were laying down fiber for their own high-security networks, they wanted their own ‘dark’ fiber because no one could eavesdrop,” Woodward says. “What you have to remember is that 5G is designed with security in mind from the very beginning, all the way up to the IP level.”
Of course, no system is foolproof or unhackable. But because 5G is a software-defined network, you can configure it to suit your needs. Evaluate the risks and take advantage of 5G’s configurability to build appropriate mitigations.
4. Partner with experts
“If communications is not your core business, you’re going to need some help,” Woodward said. 5G is still in its maturation stage, but experts from mobile operators, infrastructure vendors and others can help guide network planning and deployment.
In addition to accepting what the provider offers, “you can also implement your own security,” Tafasoli said.
“It doesn’t have to be a standardized security solution,” he said. “You can also apply your own encryption to the mechanism to protect against possible attacks.”
5. Implement monitoring and automation
Operating a 5G network requires extensive communications expertise that many companies lack. But there is a high degree of monitoring and automation, as well as tools to help improve performance and maintenance. These tools check and analyze uptime, connection latency, and usage of 5G connections, and ensure only authorized users have access. Businesses and enterprises need to ensure they budget and plan for these technical capabilities.
