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5G NETWORKS
FACE CHALLENGING
SECURITY ISSUES
The expansion of 5G networks has seen a dramatic growth in
network traffic which will impact security and reliability more
than ever before. Mohammed Al-Moneer, Regional Vice President
of Sales – MENA at A10 Networks, tells Intelligent CIO that it is
security issues, not COVID-19, that challenges the commercial
deployment of 5G networks.
Since the beginning of the current
pandemic, false and unsubstantiated
rumours of 5G and its impact on
people’s health have been prevalent in
social media. Phone masts have reportedly
been damaged or destroyed in several
European countries.
The scale of the problem prompted the
World Health Organisation (WHO), the UN
agency which is leading the response to
the pandemic, to add the 5G conspiracy to
its COVID-19 myth busters article, which
highlighted that ‘viruses cannot travel on
radio waves/mobile networks. COVID-19
is spreading in many countries that do not
have 5G mobile networks.’
In the midst of this controversy, A10
Networks released a report entitled, Toward
a More Secure 5G World, which highlighted
how COVID-19 may result in some shortterm
delays for operators, but ultimately
it demonstrates a global need for higher
speed, higher capacity 5G networks and the
applications and use cases they enable. The
study also found that 81% believe industry
progress toward 5G is moving rapidly,
mostly in major markets, or is at least in line
with expectations.
While the report shows 5G adoption
is scaling rapidly, one of the main
concerns from the report was
surrounding cybersecurity.
“
SERVICE
PROVIDERS
NEED HIGHLY
COST-EFFICIENT
SECURITY
SOLUTIONS
THAT OFFER
FLEXIBILITY,
SCALABILITY
AND PROTECTION
AS THEY
EVOLVE THEIR
NETWORKS
TO 5G.
www.intelligentcio.com
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