NCCoE Publishes White Papers on 5G Security
The NIST National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) has unveiled a new white paper series, titled "Applying 5G Cybersecurity and Privacy Capabilities". This series aims to help organizations better understand and manage the risks associated with the use of 5G networks.
The first technical paper in the series, "Protecting Subscriber Identifiers with Subscription Concealed Identifier (SUCI)", has already been released. This paper describes enabling SUCI protection, an optional capability new in 5G. SUCI provides important security and privacy protections for subscribers in 5G networks. Operators are encouraged to configure SUCI to use a non-null encryption cipher scheme.
The white papers are intended to address the challenges of safeguarding 5G technology as its development, deployment, and usage are still evolving. They are aimed at technology, cybersecurity, and privacy program managers within commercial mobile network operators, potential private 5G network operators, and organizations using and managing 5G-enabled technology.
The white papers focus on helping these professionals identify, understand, assess, and mitigate risks for 5G networks. Each paper in the series provides information, guidance, recommended practices, and research findings for a specific technical cybersecurity or privacy-supporting capability. All capabilities featured in the white papers have been implemented in the NCCoE testbed on commercial-grade 5G equipment.
The "Protecting Subscriber Identifiers with SUCI" white paper is followed by another upcoming paper, "Using Hardware-Based Security to Ensure 5G System Platform Integrity". This paper is yet to be published.
5G technology for broadband cellular networks will significantly improve human and machine communication, operation, and interaction in the physical and virtual world. With its increased bandwidth and capacity and low latency, 5G promises to revolutionize the way we live and work. However, this technological advancement also presents new security and privacy challenges.
The NCCoE welcomes feedback on the two released white papers and asks for comments to be submitted by September 16, 2024. The authors of the published whitepapers on 5G cybersecurity and privacy belong to organizations such as the National Center for Cybersecurity (NCSC) of the Swiss federal government, Fraunhofer Institute (e.g., Fraunhofer IZFP), and academic institutions like the University of Lucerne and TU Darmstadt.
For more information on the NCCoE's white paper series and to access the papers, visit the NCCoE's website.
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