A need for Zero Trust in 5G

According to Galina Pildush, Senior Global Consulting Engineer, xG Security, at Palo Alto Networks, a few MNOs “have now realised that they cannot afford for security to be an afterthought anymore”.

“Why? Simply because all elements of the network, including security, must be considered when designing services-based networks,” Pildush said. “5G is one such services-based network, aiming to deliver connectivity, ultra-low latency, data protection, and densification. Those operators have embraced the understanding that the threat vector landscape had expanded into their own domains, meaning their customers’ devices.”

In her view Zero Trust is the most inclusive methodology to embrace for threat prevention and mitigation. “Zero Trust means trust nothing, always verify”, she said.

The momentum of embedding Zero Trust 5G infrastructure and architectures need to continue and expand to all MNOs, Pildush commented, as they continue to implement standalone 5G networks.

“We are one digitally connected world. As such, this world must be secured. Any hack into an operator might impact customers’ wellbeing not only of that operator, but customers of other operators,” she warned.

“Just imagine a RAN-sharing environment, where more than one operator is deploying the same gNodeBs. Each of those operators needs to secure their access at several levels in that scenario on the RAN sharing side, so that compromised [user edge devices] won’t be able to do something ‘interesting’ to their or someone else’s core,” Pildush explained.

Meanwhile, although 5G has changed the security landscape for operators by introducing new challenges, security issues associated with older technologies including 2G, 3G and 4G are still present, she noted.

Adversaries “now have the opportunity to exploit vulnerabilities that exist in all four generations of mobile networks”, she said.

Threat mitigation “is a consistent and never-ending process, targeting to prevent breaches by eliminating trust in the digital world while consistently verifying all users, devices, and applications across all locations. The best way to mitigate a threat is to prevent it from happening in the first place”, Pildush concluded.

Galina Pildush will be participating in the session titled Future Security for Future Networks on Wednesday at 4:15pm in Hall 6 Stage B.