Businesses are set to spend billions on securing their 5G networks

Despite the widespread opinion that private 5G networks are secure by default, most enterprises are sceptical, and would rather invest a portion of their IT budget on securing the new, promising technology. 

New research from Trend Micro has revealed businesses are ready to set aside quite a hefty part of their budget on this endeavor. 

After interviewing 150 enterprises with 5,000+ employees, the majority of which already deployed private 5G networks, Trend Micro found that most enterprises invest 5-10% of their IT budgets specifically on the security of this type of network. 

3GPP

Furthermore, for the vast majority (72%), the 3GPP approach to security will suffice. For the uninitiated, 3GPP refers to the use of 3GPP standards and technical specs for implementing and deploying private networks. However, Trend Micro says that 3GPP architecture isn’t impenetrable to determined attackers. 

The majority of the respondents were interested in security visibility (75%), followed by risk and control management (65%), and an improved and streamlined alerting system (49%). To get there, most are requiring authentication (75%), access controls (65%), and protection from fake base stations (58%). 

These findings, the researchers suggest, hint that business leaders are looking to focus on integrating and enhancing the visibility of security measures throughout their organizations. Implementation leaders, on the other hand, are focusing more on security standards elevation. 

“When it comes to private 5G network technology, there’s no such thing as ‘secure by default,’ so it’s reassuring that enterprises are looking to add their own protections,” commented Greg Young, vice president of cybersecurity at Trend Micro. “What will be crucial going forward is educating this new user base about where the most critical security gaps are and what a shared responsibility model will look like in these environments.”

The shared responsibility model, in which not all components need to be secured by service providers, is important for a proper security posture, Trend Micro’s researchers further claimed. Organizations should also be responsible for mitigating risk in certain parts of the environment. Finally, market education and bridging the gap in perceptions will be crucial in the future, particularly as there’s an acute lack of awareness about security vendor solutions.

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