Mobile network operators (MNOs) are well aware of the need for comprehensive cybersecurity capabilities. They understand that they run complex, interconnected and highly distributed infrastructure which provides an enormous attack surface for threat actors to target. They know too that this surface is expanding ever further with 5G, and that they also need to protect legacy networks. Yet up until now, cybersecurity has been an investment framed in terms of mitigating risk and protecting critical networks, assets, and services. That’s understandable at a time when telcos from Sydney to Kyiv are reeling from serious security breaches.

But it’s not the whole story.