We’re kicking off the sixth and final week of the “Advanced Cybersecurity and Global Cybersecurity Strategy” course with a lecture from Mika Lauhde on Cybersecurity and 5G networks. Today our students of the Advanced Master in Privacy, Cybersecurity, Data Management and Leadership LLM at the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC) will take a deep dive into fifth generation mobile telecommunications (5G) networks and the key role they are playing in the future development of the digital economy and society. 

5G networks enable digital services in core areas of citizens’ lives and represent an important basis for the digital and green transformations. 5G is a key asset for Europe to compete in the global market and its cybersecurity is crucial to ensure the strategic autonomy of the Union. Billions of connected objects and systems are concerned, including in critical sectors such as energy, transport, banking, and health, as well as industrial control systems carrying sensitive information and supporting safety systems. 

Compared to all previous generations, 5G is, for the first time, not only bringing security solutions for upcoming new service scenarios (like IoT), but also correcting many flaws in the previous generations we have left behind. 5G is also different compared to all previous generations and its evolution may also be driven by geopolitical conflicts. These are all issues which should be understood together with possible trade-offs when developing cyber protection and legislation. 

This week we will identify specific threats related to the deployment of 5G networks and share good security practices with the students in addition to elaborating on possible future evolutions.