5G Security
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Is 5G security being sacrificed at the altar of profit, politics and process?
Homo sapiens is an incredibly adaptable species, arguably the most adaptable ever. But it is also a forgetful one, quick to take things for granted. Many of us can remember when cell phones first emerged, when the internet first became…
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Quantum Readiness for Mission-Critical Communications (MCC)
Mission-critical communications (MCC) networks are the specialized communication systems used by “blue light” emergency and disaster response services (police, fire, EMS), military units, utilities, and other critical operators to relay vital information when lives or infrastructure are at stake. These…
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Can we afford to keep ignoring Open RAN security?
I’m skeptical of ‘futurists’. Work closely enough with the development of technology solutions and you’ll know that the only certain thing about the future is that it’s constantly changing. For example, few ‘futurists’ predicted the Covid-19 outbreak that brought the…
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Cryptography in a Modern 5G Call: A Step-by-Step Breakdown
Modern telecommunications networks rely on multiple layers of cryptography at every step of a call or data session. Understanding the complexity of the process and the amount of cryptography involved is critical for post-quantum migration planning - an initiative some…
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Securing Society 5.0
A term first coined by the Japanese government, “Society 5.0” describes “A human-centered society that balances economic advancement with the resolution of social problems by a system that highly integrates cyberspace and physical space.” The fifth evolution of the society,…
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Quantum Computing – Looming Threat to Telecom Security
Since the early 2000s, the field of quantum computing has seen significant advancements, both in technological development and in commercialization efforts. The experimental demonstration of Shor's algorithm in 2001 proved to be one of the key catalyzing events, spurring increased…
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A Comparison of 5G Core Network Architectures
The 5G Core network is a Service Based Architecture. It evolves the traditional appliance based 4G Core Network to support services. It offers more agility and flexibility. The major building blocks of this architecture include Service-Based Interface: The Service Based…
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The Open RAN Lexicon You Need
The telecoms and digital technologies sectors are notoriously jargonised. Eavesdrop on any conversation at an industry conference (remember those?) and you’d be treated to a parade of acronyms, initialisms and technical terms that would sound like ancient Greek to an…
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Open RAN May Be the Future of 5G, but Can We Keep It Secure?
It’s been a year of contradictions for the telecommunications industry. Like most sectors, it has been heavily impacted by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a slowdown in global 5G roll-outs being a notable result. Geopolitical conflicts have continued…
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5G in Manufacturing – 5G and Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) for Industrial Automation
In the recent report by IHS Markit – “The 5G Economy – How 5G will contribute to the global economy” – researchers claimed that manufacturing will garner almost $4.7 trillion in sales enablement by 2035. Or 36% of the $13.2…
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Cybersecurity and Safety in the 5G-Enabled Smart-Everything World
Neil Harbisson calls himself a cyborg. Without the antenna implanted in his skull, he would not be able to see colour of any kind. Born with achromatopsia, a condition of total colourblindness that affects 1 in every 30 000 people,…
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Introduction to 5G Core Service-Based Architecture (SBA) Components
The interest in 5G and mIoT is exploding. It’s exciting to see so many IT and cybersecurity professionals in my network trying to learn more about 5G and related technologies. In addition to my usual articles about the societal impacts…
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Smart Home / Smart Building Connectivity Options and Their Cybersecurity
In a recent session on smart building cybersecurity, a student cheekily asked me “How did we ever connect anything before 5G?” At that moment I realized I might have been overdoing my 5G cheerleading recently. To atone, here are the…
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Introduction to 3GPP and 3GPP 5G Releases 15, 16 and 17
In a major milestone for 5G, 3GPP finalized the Release 16 in July – its second set of specifications for 5G New Radio (NR) technology. As a second article in my series of 5G 101 articles, this is a good…
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Does the positive review of Huawei UDG source code quality mean that Huawei 5G is secure and reliable?
No, no it doesn’t. Huawei’s code might as well be extremely secure. Their code is certainly the most scrutinized. But the recent UDG source code review is not an evidence of security. ERNW, an independent IT security service provider in…
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