As Australia opens the door to 5G, it’s time to keep the threats out
Even as early as 2005, only 16.8 per cent of the globe was connected to the internet, making it hard to keep pace with the 15.2 million terabytes that Australians are now downloading each year, especially as COVID-19 has shifted our lifestyles and communications increasingly online.
That’s why it’s important to recognise that 5G isn’t coming, it’s already here – Australian telcos have been rolling out 5G network infrastructure since 2019 in a ’blink and you’ll miss it’ update that promises to bring unprecedented network speeds to our data-hungry nation.
5G speeds are predicted to be a speed-shattering twenty times faster than 4G LTE, and as the Australian Government declares 2021 ‘the year of 5G’ with the first auction of the millimetre wave spectrum in April 2021, access to a network with speeds as high as twenty gigabytes per second is not some distant, utopian future, it’s mere months away. To put this into perspective, that is the equivalent of a 19.5-hour plane ride from Sydney to New York now taking a meagre 58 minutes.
As we open the door to 5G and begin our foray toward these unprecedented network speeds and the boundless possibilities, we must ensure our security infrastructure is equipped to handle this new plane of cyberthreat, avoiding any Pandora‘s box scenario. If Australians have access to drastically faster speeds so too will cybercriminals with the capabilities to wipe away your entire data storage in seconds.
Faster speeds mean more attacks, and with more businesses shifting their models online including transitioning workforces to work from home, the crippling cyberattacks companies have faced this year will be even more damaging. With speed increasing drastically, we must invest equally in the infrastructure that protects as it does enable. We need to proactively identify and mitigate risks before they have even begun to become a threat, keeping our workers at home safe on their private networks and Australian families protected and secure.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has already begun to identify this problem, calling for the Australian Government to implement ‘Clean Pipes,’ a default level of security delivered to customers that prevent cyberthreats at the source of the network provided to them. This increases response times and blacklists malware or phishing sites before reaching internet-enabled devices that organisations will undoubtedly connect to their networks. The Australian Government is in the process of reviewing Clean Pipes as an area of focus in the National Cyber Security Strategy, which could enact further responsibilities for Australian telecommunications providers to automatically block malicious traffic for the internet services they provide, including 5G.
But as our smart homes turn to smart cities, 5G technology will bring to life new Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology we could not have even conceived of in unfounded areas that will similarly need protecting. We can expect possible hacking and sabotaging in new areas such as hospitals, our energy systems, banks, and even the cars we drive as our 5G phones already double as our digital car keys, and technology becomes increasingly autonomous. The pressure to prevent such events is growing with 5G because of the increasingly critical nature of the applications we will see it carry. A smart city cannot let the traffic lights go out, while automated factories cannot afford downtime. Security is merely going to matter more, as our reliance on secure access to the internet continues to grow in Australia.
Palo Alto Networks research arm Unit 42 found that even in 2020, 98 per cent of all IoT device traffic remains unencrypted, which could leave technologies such as medical imaging devices, kitchen appliances, children‘s toys, and even national security systems vulnerable to attack. Australian enterprises and public sector organisations will need constant real-time visibility and granular control of traffic passing through their networks to detect and stop malicious behaviours.
Now more than ever, business leaders and public sector officials must look to new ways of keeping Australians safe, and investing in technology that is in our best interest to remain secure. The move to 5G is exciting and brings many opportunities that will revolutionise our technological landscape. We need to make sure we are ready to meet it.
Sean Duca is Vice President and Regional Chief Security Officer for Asia Pacific & Japan, Palo Alto Networks
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