Post by account_disabled on Sept 14, 2023 10:10:42 GMT
5G promises increased speeds, reduced latency, and support for a much larger number of connected devices. However, the increase in devices and new applications will expand the attack surface, providing new opportunities for malicious actors to exploit security gaps. As with any new technology, the potential for misconfigurations, errors, and unpatched vulnerabilities is high as enterprises learn how to deploy and secure 5G at scale.
According to a November 2022 survey by Phone Number List GlobalData and Nokia, approximately 75% of telecommunications service providers around the world said they had experienced up to six 5G network security breaches in the past year.
Half of all respondents said they had experienced an attack that exposed customer data, and nearly three-quarters said the attack had resulted in a service outage.
However, 5G networks have significant security advantages over previous networks, one of which is 'network slicing', or the ability to segment the network into multiple virtual networks on a single physical infrastructure. Each network may have its own configuration, performance parameters, and quality of service. This not only allows different applications to share the same physical infrastructure, but also provides an additional layer of isolation and security to hinder attackers.
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“5G brings many technological innovations and improvements to 4G technology, but one of the most important is network slicing,” said Doug Gatto, manager of service practice development at IT services firm Insight. “Security is the biggest benefit, and by isolating the attack into one slice, we can significantly reduce the impact of cyber attacks.”
Gato noted, however, that misconfigured 5G network slices are vulnerable to several threats, including denial-of-service attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and default configuration attacks. He also added that if slices are not designed properly, an attacker can jump from one slice to another. Gato said this type of attack is already happening, although the threat is relatively new and he has not yet seen public data on specific breaches.
Moreover, the concept of 5G network slicing is also very new. This requires carriers to build standalone 5G instead of adding a 5G layer to existing 4G LTE networks. This infrastructure is becoming more widespread, and carriers are just beginning to experiment with slicing. For example, in February, Singtel unveiled a 5G slice-as-a-slice feature that would be available 'in the coming months'. Also in the same month, Ericsson released a report calling 5G slicing a ‘near-term opportunity.’ Then in March, Brian Skromsky, Verizon's public sector managing partner, said the company plans to implement network slicing later this year.
However, the security risks surrounding 5G network slices are so serious that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a warning last December and provided advice to mitigate these risks. Security concerns are not limited to attacks on individual slices; they can also cross slices if the network is not a protected asset, the authorities noted. According to the report, “Mismanagement of network slices could allow malicious actors to access data in other network slices or deny access to prioritized users.”
Researchers from Deloitte and Virginia Tech recently performed proof-of-concept tests and demonstrated that lateral movement is indeed possible. “Assuming a particular device is connected to one network slice, Google the vendor website to find out what the default username and password are, and then use that username and password at other points in the network,” said Abdul Rahman, vice president at Deloitte. “All you have to do is write a script that tries the password.”
If the initial slice is then compromised, that access can be used to move to other network slices and compromise data or devices used by other customers. According to the CISA report, the three major 5G network slice threats are denial of service (DoS) attacks, default configuration attacks, and man-in-the-middle attacks.
DoS attacks can degrade service across multiple slices
A DoS attack is when a malicious actor floods a network or critical application or component with traffic, disrupting service on all devices using the same slice. Denial-of-service attacks on 5G networks cannot be mitigated using today's approaches and technologies, according to a report released by ENEA AdaptiveMobile Security earlier this year.
Network slicing can help reduce the attack surface by isolating the impact of a DoS attack to individual network segments, but only when the infrastructure is properly configured. However, some types of attacks can spread to other slices if proper precautions are not taken. For example, if malware compromises IoT devices connected to a 5G network and floods the network with messages, it could degrade signal quality across all network slices sharing the same spectrum or other physical resources.
Another possibility is that a malicious mobile edge computing application could infect one slice and start generating fake compute-intensive tasks. This operation consumes edge computing resources and, if malware is able to bypass computing resource partitioning policies, can affect the performance of all other slices sharing the same edge computing.
Deloitte and Virginia Tech released a report in April outlining denial-of-service attack vectors for 5G networks. “It was a controlled study in a lab environment, but it is realistic,” said Shehadi Dayek, Deloitte’s 5G and edge expert leader. “This can also impose resource constraints on the common infrastructure used by both slices,” he said. “Additionally, network designers may not want to duplicate all network functions in each slice, so an attack on a specific network function can compromise all slices that use that function.” “It may have an impact,” he said.
There are also shared resources that all slices must use. For example, let's say a telco uses 5G network slices to provide a private network to multiple enterprise customers in the same region. “Eventually, we will be serving multiple customers using one base station,” Dayek said. It is not possible to replicate a base station to every individual customer. Therefore, if a specific shared resource is compromised, other customers will also be affected.
According to a November 2022 survey by Phone Number List GlobalData and Nokia, approximately 75% of telecommunications service providers around the world said they had experienced up to six 5G network security breaches in the past year.
Half of all respondents said they had experienced an attack that exposed customer data, and nearly three-quarters said the attack had resulted in a service outage.
However, 5G networks have significant security advantages over previous networks, one of which is 'network slicing', or the ability to segment the network into multiple virtual networks on a single physical infrastructure. Each network may have its own configuration, performance parameters, and quality of service. This not only allows different applications to share the same physical infrastructure, but also provides an additional layer of isolation and security to hinder attackers.
ⓒGetty Images Bank
“5G brings many technological innovations and improvements to 4G technology, but one of the most important is network slicing,” said Doug Gatto, manager of service practice development at IT services firm Insight. “Security is the biggest benefit, and by isolating the attack into one slice, we can significantly reduce the impact of cyber attacks.”
Gato noted, however, that misconfigured 5G network slices are vulnerable to several threats, including denial-of-service attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and default configuration attacks. He also added that if slices are not designed properly, an attacker can jump from one slice to another. Gato said this type of attack is already happening, although the threat is relatively new and he has not yet seen public data on specific breaches.
Moreover, the concept of 5G network slicing is also very new. This requires carriers to build standalone 5G instead of adding a 5G layer to existing 4G LTE networks. This infrastructure is becoming more widespread, and carriers are just beginning to experiment with slicing. For example, in February, Singtel unveiled a 5G slice-as-a-slice feature that would be available 'in the coming months'. Also in the same month, Ericsson released a report calling 5G slicing a ‘near-term opportunity.’ Then in March, Brian Skromsky, Verizon's public sector managing partner, said the company plans to implement network slicing later this year.
However, the security risks surrounding 5G network slices are so serious that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a warning last December and provided advice to mitigate these risks. Security concerns are not limited to attacks on individual slices; they can also cross slices if the network is not a protected asset, the authorities noted. According to the report, “Mismanagement of network slices could allow malicious actors to access data in other network slices or deny access to prioritized users.”
Researchers from Deloitte and Virginia Tech recently performed proof-of-concept tests and demonstrated that lateral movement is indeed possible. “Assuming a particular device is connected to one network slice, Google the vendor website to find out what the default username and password are, and then use that username and password at other points in the network,” said Abdul Rahman, vice president at Deloitte. “All you have to do is write a script that tries the password.”
If the initial slice is then compromised, that access can be used to move to other network slices and compromise data or devices used by other customers. According to the CISA report, the three major 5G network slice threats are denial of service (DoS) attacks, default configuration attacks, and man-in-the-middle attacks.
DoS attacks can degrade service across multiple slices
A DoS attack is when a malicious actor floods a network or critical application or component with traffic, disrupting service on all devices using the same slice. Denial-of-service attacks on 5G networks cannot be mitigated using today's approaches and technologies, according to a report released by ENEA AdaptiveMobile Security earlier this year.
Network slicing can help reduce the attack surface by isolating the impact of a DoS attack to individual network segments, but only when the infrastructure is properly configured. However, some types of attacks can spread to other slices if proper precautions are not taken. For example, if malware compromises IoT devices connected to a 5G network and floods the network with messages, it could degrade signal quality across all network slices sharing the same spectrum or other physical resources.
Another possibility is that a malicious mobile edge computing application could infect one slice and start generating fake compute-intensive tasks. This operation consumes edge computing resources and, if malware is able to bypass computing resource partitioning policies, can affect the performance of all other slices sharing the same edge computing.
Deloitte and Virginia Tech released a report in April outlining denial-of-service attack vectors for 5G networks. “It was a controlled study in a lab environment, but it is realistic,” said Shehadi Dayek, Deloitte’s 5G and edge expert leader. “This can also impose resource constraints on the common infrastructure used by both slices,” he said. “Additionally, network designers may not want to duplicate all network functions in each slice, so an attack on a specific network function can compromise all slices that use that function.” “It may have an impact,” he said.
There are also shared resources that all slices must use. For example, let's say a telco uses 5G network slices to provide a private network to multiple enterprise customers in the same region. “Eventually, we will be serving multiple customers using one base station,” Dayek said. It is not possible to replicate a base station to every individual customer. Therefore, if a specific shared resource is compromised, other customers will also be affected.