5G Mobile Networks Security Landscape and Major Risks

Abstract

The 5G is all set to create a paradigm shift in the telecommunication network architecture by introducing a millimeter‐wave‐based customizable radio network and a redesigned cloud‐native core network to offer high‐speed, low‐latency mobile broadband anytime anywhere. The key enabling technologies of the 5G are massive MIMO, beamforming, Software‐Defined Networking (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC). However, the network agility, connection to billions of smart things, and blind adoption of machine learning models and open‐source software in the networked systems bring in a unique set of security threats and privacy concerns to the network and its stakeholders. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolving security threat landscape of 5G, recommended security measures, current state‐of‐the‐art solutions, and open research areas.