Page 50 - Cyber Defense eMagazine forJune 2021

The Solution to Overcoming Cyber Threats in A 5g World

Optical Wireless Communciations (Owc) Will Be Key For Maximizing Security

By Michael Abad-Santos, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy,
BridgeComm

Nearly 6 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices were in service worldwide at the end of 2020, according
to Gartner. But mobile operators aren’t the only ones chasing that opportunity. Hackers are, too.
Each additional IoT device creates another potential back door for hackers to steal identities, financial
records and other confidential information, or take control of vehicles and critical infrastructure such as
public water supplies. All of these cyber attacks have been around for years, but there are several
reasons why 5G significantly increases the opportunities and vulnerabilities:
• 5G is more than just an evolutionary step, like 4G was for 3G. It’s a fundamentally different
architecture based on virtualized, highly distributed, software-defined infrastructure. All of this
creates a steep learning curve for both operators and their vendors. It’s inevitable that they’ll
overlook many of the cyberattack vectors that the 5G architecture enables.
• Private networks will be even more common in 5G than they are in 4G. Owned by factories and
other enterprises, private 5G networks are potential back doors into operator networks. For
example, a hacker could target an enterprise network not to attack the IoT devices that use it, but
rather as a route into the mobile operator’s 5G network and the IoT endpoints, smartphones and
other devices that use it.
• 5G relies heavily on application programming interface (APIs) to support service functions. This
architecture lays the foundation for API-enabled hacks like the one used to target SolarWinds.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – June 2021 Edition 50
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