5G is not only faster, but also safer!

As major operators begin to offer 5G packages, the commercial era of 5G has officially begun. When it comes to 5G, people's first reaction is the extremely high network speed and various novel IoT applications. However, as the saying goes, "the greater the power, the greater the responsibility", as the network speed increases and the number of devices connected to the network increases, security issues have become more important.

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5G has three typical business scenarios, namely enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC), and massive machine type communications (mMTC).

Each scenario poses new security requirements:

• eMBB can provide users with high-speed network speed and high-density capacity. The peak rate of 5G network and user experience rate will increase by more than 10 times compared with 4G, which poses challenges to the computing and processing capabilities of security infrastructure.
• In URLLC scenarios, 5G networks are required to provide QoS guarantees with a latency as low as 1ms while ensuring high reliability. However, the latency caused by traditional security algorithms cannot meet the requirements of ultra-low latency. Therefore, low-latency security algorithms and protection of privacy data are required.
• mMTC can support efficient access and management of large-scale, low-cost, and low-energy physical network terminals, but the 4G network does not take into account the problem of massive authentication signaling. Therefore, it is necessary to consider lightweight security, group authentication, and the ability to resist DDos attacks.

In addition, the 5G era will face various security needs. The various security needs and corresponding security countermeasures are listed below.

Do you feel a little panicked after seeing this?

——No need to worry, 5G is fully prepared for these challenges.

In fact, a specific scenario does not have only one security requirement or threat, nor can it be solved by one security solution. Similarly, a type of solution is not limited to solving only one specific requirement. Here are some typical and important security functions and solutions.

• Security function virtualization: Through the virtualization of traditional security functions, virtual security function units that meet the security requirements of different applications can be designed, such as firewalls, access authentication, Internet Protocol Security (IPsec), virus detection, etc. Each virtual security function unit calls various basic security service function sets on demand to meet the requirements of scalable performance and customizable functions, and provides on-demand reconstruction of network security functions for network slices serving different industries.
• Flexible authentication methods: In view of the characteristics of the 5G era with many types of terminals and base stations, 5G will respond to various challenges through two-way authentication, group authentication, fast authentication, and distributed authentication.
• Slice security isolation: Slice security isolation can be achieved through three-level isolation of the slice corresponding to the basic resource layer, network layer and management layer.
• Unified identity management and multiple trust mechanisms: 5G supports diverse and massive terminal access. Whether it is the demand for identity management capabilities or the deep integration mechanism of networks and services, a new identity management system needs to be built. Therefore, it is necessary to fully integrate the identity management systems of existing mobile communication networks, different vertical industries, and different IoT platforms to achieve unified identity management and build a unified trust service system similar to the one shown below.

All of the above are efforts made by 5G to protect the security of communications. I believe that in the 5G era, everyone’s calls will be better protected.