Page 12 - EngineerIT December 2022

COMMUNICATION

Equally, businesses need to • 5G has the potential to transform almost all industry sectors, ushering in a new
identify all the relevant stakeholders world of hyper-connectivity and facilitating the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
in the ecosystem – their network • As a software-dependent network with high dependencies and an increased
infrastructure providers, customers, end ‘attack surface’, it will present significant new security risks.
users, data centres – to determine the • Risk mitigation measures must take into account all stakeholders across the
opportunities for attack or outage. Even supply chain.
trusted suppliers can be hacked, as was • Collaboration across sectors, institutions, governments and nations will be
seen in 2020, when an attack on the US required to create the infrastructure required and agree standards.
technology firm SolarWinds affected
Microsoft, Intel, and government
agencies, costing each company segregation, which allows slices to be isolated in case of a security issue, but if those
affected an average of $12mn or 11% of slices are misconfigured or there is no isolation mechanism, the network can be
annual revenue. 4 exploited.
The supply chain is not only As well as increasing the software attack surface, slicing means many different
vulnerable to cyberattack or human stakeholders will be using multiple virtual networks which run on common hardware
failure, but also to geopolitical resources, whether it’s for storage or processors. A hardware failure could have a
upheaval and natural catastrophe. mighty service impact.
Bottlenecks, such as the Suez Canal A lack of standardisation and a regulatory framework that is still evolving present
blockage of 2021 or the recent further security risks. Larger telecoms businesses and their equipment suppliers embed
semiconductor shortage, could best practice into new procedures and products, but there is a risk that others, with
also disrupt service provision, fewer resources or in jurisdictions with less robust regulation, might be tempted to
as could overreliance on certain cut corners. This could have widescale consequences in a world where the number of
suppliers. There is concern, too, over everyday devices that are connected could surge.
communication gaps with so many To mitigate against this new world of risk, AGCS recommends methods that are
stakeholders involved – if updates for already good practice: standardisation with all interfaces, proper configuration,
new components or software are not authorisation and authentication, encryption, protecting APIs (especially if they are
well communicated by manufacturers from open sources), and system ‘hardening’ – configuring IT assets to reduce their
or service providers to users, there vulnerability to attack. These should go hand in hand with a robust business continuity
could be consequences along the plan.
supply chain.
Unprecedented levels of collaboration
A closer look at the cyber The global rollout of 5G will require widescale collaboration between businesses,
threat the public sector and governments, as well as between nations across the world.
5G will enable the proliferation High levels of investment will be needed to create the infrastructure required, agree
of highly complex, multi-domain standards, innovate new products and services, develop new business models, and
environments. A crucial difference educate users and providers about the risks and potential of 5G technologies.
between 5G and its predecessors Recent examples of collaborative innovation include the combined forces of
is the distinct feature of network Ericsson, TIM (formerly Telecoms Italia) and automations systems company Comau,
‘slicing’. Slicing utilizes Software which are developing 5G-enabled solutions for smart manufacturing based on the
Defined Networking (SDN) and the benefits of network slicing, as part of the EU-funded 5Growth project. Network slicing
complementary technology Network was also key to the recent completion of an end-to-end proof of concept with software
Function Virtualization (NFV). and services provider Amdocs and A1 Telekom Austria Group, which aims to drive next-
This allows many different virtual generation experiences and on-demand connectivity for consumers and businesses.
networks to be created on a shared However, there is a disparity of technological advancements globally. With the high
infrastructure, each of which can be investment costs involved, there is a danger some poorer economies may not benefit
customized to different requirements. from the positive impacts of 5G technologies, which could widen inequalities between
This flexibility delivers intrinsic nations. It could be beneficial for certain aspects of infrastructure to be regionalised in
security through segmentation. order to facilitate the rollout in regions that might otherwise be left behind. n
Slices depend on APIs – application
programming interfaces – which are References
designed to communicate with each 1. GMSA, The Mobile Economy 2022, February 22, 2022
other, so the reliability of the overall 2. IHS Markit, The 5G Economy: How 5G Will Contribute to the Global Economy, November 2019
software supply chain becomes hugely 3. IHS Markit, The 5G Economy: How 5G Will Contribute to the Global Economy, November 2019
significant. 4. TechRepublic, Cybersecurity Study: SolarWinds Attack Cost Affected Companies an Average of $12
On the plus side, slicing enables Million, June 28, 2021

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