Businesses are looking for security solutions that seamlessly integrate with existing 5G technologies. According to Trend Micro, the market for cybersecurity of private 5G networks will grow to US$2027 billion by 12,9.
Trend Micro publishes the results of its new report "Beyond Secure by Default" in cooperation with the analyst house Omdia. The study shows that the majority of companies invest 5 to 10 percent of their IT budget specifically in the security of private 5G networks, although they assume that the technology is already more secure by default than previous standards such as 3G, 4G and LTE.
More security for 5G networks
The results of the study indicate that 72 percent of companies worldwide consider the "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP) approach to be sufficient for the security of private 5G networks. Such network architectures are developed taking security aspects into account and are generally more secure than public 5G networks because they are private. However, attackers can penetrate them. Respondents to the study seem to agree, with the majority of organizations estimating that they spend between $5 million and $XNUMX million of their IT budget on securing private XNUMXG networks and plan to increase that spending in the future.
When comparing the security requirements for private 5G networks in companies, the expectations of executives are particularly in the following areas:
- Security transparency (75 percent)
- Risk and control management (65 percent)
- Improved and simplified warning system (49 percent)
The most important security requirements with which companies want to mitigate the cyber risks in 5G networks include:
- Authentication (75 percent)
- Access control (65 percent)
- Protection against fake base stations (58 percent)
These divergent priorities indicate that leaders are focused on integrating and increasing the visibility of security measures across their organization. In contrast, those leading the implementation of 5G focus on raising security standards within the 5G network, in line with the principle of secure by default.
Shared responsibility at 5G
In addition, the report shows the importance of a shared responsibility model: Not all components need to be secured by the service providers, since companies themselves are also responsible for risk mitigation in certain parts of the environment.
The report concludes that educating the market and bridging the perception gap will be crucial going forward, especially given the current lack of awareness of security vendor solutions.
“When it comes to 5G private network technology, there is no such thing as 'secure by default'. So it's reassuring that companies want to add their own protections," said Udo Schneider, IoT Security Evangelist at Trend Micro. "It will be crucial to educate this new user base on where the critical vulnerabilities lie and what a shared responsibility model can look like in these environments."
Background to the report
Omdia surveyed 150 companies with more than 5.000 employees: 58 percent of them have already implemented private 5G networks and 42 percent plan to do so within a year. Sectors represented included energy, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing and semiconductors. Additionally, Omdia surveyed 150 service providers offering private 5G network security services to businesses. The study was commissioned by Trend Micro and its subsidiary CTOne.
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