5G: new scenarios for Cyber Security
In the last decades, being able to connect and exchange information has increased considerably, in an environment where speed and continuity are constantly interacting with security.
Digital Transformation, which first touched then upended the traditional social and working models invading homes and company structures with smartphones, digital devices and services, is now taking a further step forwards which will perhaps affect our daily life much more than it did before.
The arrival of Internet of Things, that is connection to the network of all those objects surrounding us, from home appliances to traffic lights and cars, is already a part of our present; but implementing 5G will allow these technologies to achieve goals and potential that would have seemed impossible a few years ago.
The Fifth Generation of mobile communication technology will lead to a connection speed that is even 10 times higher than the current 4G; making communications and data transmission almost instantaneous, enabling new extraordinary technological implementations, but making vulnerable what has not been till now. If on the one hand these characteristics make 5G so promising on the other they are also its main weakness.
In an infrastructure where information comes from a great number of connected devices and travels almost in real time, one vulnerability can open the door to threats affecting a huge amount of sensitive data.
IoT devices will be the ones benefiting from this technological evolution. They will be at the center of the main security discussions; the promise of a totally connected world presents considerable risks.
From the hacker attack point of view, Botnet and DDos are perhaps the two most fearful attack weapons; in 2016 a malware called Mirai took control of thousands of IoT devices and used them to launch a Ddos attack causing serious damage to servers and technological tools.
Now the risk a much greater considering the speed guaranteed by 5G and the huge number of devices online between companies and private individuals, often built without the attention needed over passwords and updating, especially amongst domestic instruments.
With these new implementations, any attacks or malfunctioning will not only affect infrastructures and data. They will have immediate repercussions on the physical safety of people and not only them. Besides the theft of or damage to sensitive data and hardware, a cyber-attack could now tamper with hundreds of cars, traffic lights, home appliances, with catastrophic consequences.
The security of these infrastructures is increasingly more a primary objective for the protection of companies and individuals; and is a process that must involve all sector operators, from manufacturers to regulatory bodies, to all those professionals involved in the digitisation process.
If it is really possible to create a totally connected world, this must be done with a common ethical purpose, and with an effort made by all concerned.