A new report from the EU warns that the roll-out of the next generation of mobile networks will come with a slew of risks.
The report kicked off by stating that worldwide 5G revenues are expected to reach €225bn by 2025. However, the introduction of the technology also creates risks.
For instance, while 5G will bring about higher connectivity, the report authors expressed concerns that it would also mean that the impact of potential attacks would be more severe.
The report authors believed 5G will increase the exposure to attacks and open up more potential entry points for bad actors.
The biggest risks to the 5G identified by the report were disruption of the network, spying on traffic and data across 5G infrastructure, modifying or rerouting traffic which could lead to integrity and confidentiality concerns, and the destruction or alteration of other digital infrastructures or information systems through 5G networks.
State actors were perceived as being the biggest and most likely actors to threaten businesses and countries.
“The combination of motivation, intent and a high-level capability enables states to perpetrate attacks that can be very complex and have a major impact on essential services for the general public, deteriorating the trust in mobile technologies and operators,” the report stated. “For example, states or state-backed actors can cause large-scale outage or significant disturbance of telecommunications services by exploiting undocumented functions or attacking interdependent critical infrastructures (e.g. power supply).”
The report also noted that insiders and subcontractors could also be high-risk threats. It also stated that criminals also remain a high concern.
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