According to the recent study by Arcep on electronic communication services in France, the number of active users on 5G networks exceeded 6 million in the third quarter of 2022, which shows its development and its ever-increasing use. . This new lightning-fast network is indeed rapidly deploying in personal and business environments. However, with this technology comes new opportunities for cybercriminals.
Most organizations currently use 4G or 5G to access connected objects (IoT), control autonomous inspection drones, monitor the environment or control traffic, or even manage digital advertising.
However, the teams in charge of digital must realize that it should be integrated into their connectivity strategy, and can even be an asset in their approach to cybersecurity.
Benefits not to be overlooked
Initially, 5G favors the increase in bandwidth, with an announced data transmission rate of more than 1 GB, which in fact makes it possible to multiply by 10 to 100 the current performance of 4G. A connection over a 5G Wide Area Network (WAN), typically large over a wide area, is now a viable technology for remote office automation. Indeed, they finally have enough bandwidth to run all business applications, allowing employees to collaborate more effectively and providing essential Internet access.
In addition, this mobile network allows a latency time of less than 5 milliseconds. It therefore constitutes a credible alternative to the MPLS (MultiProtocol Label Switching) technology, mainly used to support professional and multimedia applications which only malfunction if the latency is high or irregular. Thus, 5G offers a cheaper and more flexible alternative, allowing network teams to replace part of the MPLS infrastructure in remote offices.
Finally, 5G provides the IT infrastructure with a higher level of security than 4G, thanks to new authentication functions, stronger identity protection and additional security mechanisms, which eliminate the concerns linked to the exchange of sensitive or confidential data on public infrastructure.
SASE architecture, a boon for organizations
5G changes the architecture and topology of the network, so it is essential that companies’ cybersecurity strategies evolve as well. Indeed, the centralization of local access points and the backhauling of user connections go against the intention of the mobile network. Therefore, the SASE architecture model and 5G can form a complementary alliance. As part of this, the network team takes advantage of the high throughput and low latency of connections to provide optimal access to the SASE cloud. Users then have direct, transparent, secure and controlled access to SaaS, web or Zero Trust applications. As such, when connectivity uses a single platform, telemetry, logging and audit data are available in one place, ensuring maximum operational efficiency.
If 4G made teleworking possible for several years, this evolution is now amplified with 5G. Employees can now seamlessly access their company’s network and applications, regardless of location. To ensure maximum data protection and reduce the attack surface, the Zero Trust approach verifies each employee’s location, device, and session before allowing them to log in. To benefit from the performance and agility of 5G, IT managers must ensure that the security architecture does not constrain the network or the users.
The SD-WAN network, a tool that facilitates
Combined with software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN), high-speed 5G technology enables network teams to transform IT architecture with zero-touch provisioning, intelligent automation, and capacity. monitoring. This approach speeds up the configuration and decommissioning of secure remote sites with high-performance connectivity. 5G and the SD-WAN network allow user scenarios for telecommuters, or IoT monitoring, in real time. Thus, by combining these technologies, IT managers benefit from increased agility and competitiveness.
In addition, the wider availability of 5G and the agility of SD-WAN, which benefit network teams, bring other advantages. For example, the ability of SD-WAN topologies to simplify the operation of the most complex network controls (WAN optimization, quality of service, automatic failover and recovery) allows network teams to regain control without being penalized by excessive operational expenses. .
In short, 5G and the SASE architecture have a solid complementarity to challenge the traditional world of networks and cybersecurity. Together, these technologies offer enterprises the ability to redesign their network architecture and benefit from an increased level of performance, agility and security, while reducing costs and simplifying their operations. This approach, combined with Zero Trust, can thus fully protect the organization in a context where the cyber threat is permanent.