5G is the talk of the town and it faces a lot of threats. With such value at stake, how can telecom companies evolve to stay ahead of the competition? Well, the world’s first 5G cybersecurity hackathon will play a crucial role in strengthening ties around 5G platforms. Our businesses will run increasingly on 5G networks, including critical infrastructure to the transportation system, and our homes with IoT devices. This is why it is important to secure networks from all aspects. Organizations tend to invest more in cybersecurity testing services to improve their security and ensure the safety of crucial consumer data.
Solution: Ethical Hacking
Ethical hacking is one of the most common approaches used across all IT domains. White-hat hackers play an important role in the identification of software vulnerabilities and all software development practices. Security testing firms have offer penetration testing to ensure that a system or software is free from any sort of security vulnerabilities. So what if a similar approach is used for mobile networks? What if the same solutions are applied to safeguard the future security of 5G mobile technology?
Securing 5G
Well, there are a number of ways in which the new 5G standard breaks the status quo of all previous standards. For instance, adoption of the common distributed IT infrastructure and protocols including Service Based Architecture (SBA) combined with HTTP2 and JSON standards were used for signaling. This has broadened the 5G cybersecurity ecosystem. It has taken the cybersecurity and vulnerability domains away from considering telecom as a closed ecosystem and made it more accessible to the entire IT industry. This sets a groud for greater cross-industry collaboration to secure 5G from risks. Cybersecurity testing services are designed to ensure that an organization’s 5G is protected from attackers.
First 5G Hackathon
Last November (2019), the world’s first 5G hackathon was arranged by Traficom (Finish Transport and Communications Agency) which exposed the new 5G radio equipment for the ethical hacker community to test, learn and improve. This event was organized at the Tellus Arena at the University of Oulu in Finland, where more than 80 hackers from 10 different countries were put to test 5G security. Hackers had 24 hours to try and find vulnerabilities in 5G equipment, and the teams were awarded based on their success, where the winning team received up to EUD 10,000.
A Step Forward
As we know that digital technologies have changed our lives a great deal. It has an impact on our daily activities. Similarly, cybersecurity testing services become compulsory for all businesses looking forward to staying abreast of the latest trends in technology. Software testing companies dedicate white-hat hackers to ensure that 5G equipment is robust and safe while they are being used by customers across the globe. Security experts ensure placing the best strategies to identify vulnerabilities and how to mitigate risks to 5G technology.
