"5G Infrastructure Faces Foundational Threats"

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a report that explores the potential threat vectors to 5G infrastructure. The report draws further attention to the risks to 5G that threaten national and economic security and that could also affect other national and global interests. The 5G Threat Model Working Panel, which was formed as part of the "National Strategy to Secure 5G," reviewed existing work to develop an aggregated list of known and potential threats to 5G infrastructure. The panel identified sample scenarios in which 5G might be adopted, and then assessed the risks related to 5G core technologies. Although IT and communication firms are strengthening security with 5G, systems architectures are at risk because malicious actors may exploit both legacy and new vulnerabilities. The overlay of 4G legacy and 5G architectures may lead to the performance of a downgrade attack in which 5G network user is forced to use 4G. As a result, the malicious actor could exploit known 4G vulnerabilities. The increased use of information and communications technologies by 5G networks will also give malicious actors more potential points of entry. This article continues to discuss the main potential threat vectors to 5G networks identified by the new report.

GCN reports "5G Infrastructure Faces Foundational Threats"