5 steps businesses should take to build a secure 5G network

• 5G-network uptake is picking up around the world and promises faster speeds and lower latency.
• Many businesses stand to benefit from 5G, but not all will need it.
• If you want to set up 5G, consider the benefits of public vs. private and hire the right experts.
• This article is part of "5G Playbook," a series exploring one of our time's most important tech innovations.

The arrival of 5G networks around the world offers potential for organizations to transform their operations and use new technologies. Nearly half of UK businesses that UK5G, a coalition of commercial and educational bodies intent on helping the UK adopt 5G technology, surveyed in June 2022 said they planned to make investments in the mobile-network technology in the coming year. A GMD Research report estimated that, by 2031, the global 5G enterprise market could be worth more than $83 billion.

5G is the latest version of superfast mobile internet. It boasts higher capacity and speed capabilities and lower latency than the previous generation of 4G mobile internet, meaning that consumers can now use mobile internet for a variety of purposes in business and personal use.

But with these potential benefits come risks that companies and engineers must carefully manage. Two experts in 5G technology and cybersecurity, Rahim Tafazolli and Alan Woodward of the University of Surrey, spoke to Insider about the key steps organizations should take to develop a secure 5G network.

1. Understand your needs and hire the right staff

The first thing to check is whether you need a 5G network, and if so, how you should scope it. Everything from traffic, security levels, and latency requirements will determine how to lay out your 5G plans safely and securely.

That requires trained staff, Tafazolli, who is the founder and director of 5GIC, 6GIC, and the Institute for Communication Systems at the University of Surrey, said. "In most of these organizations, they are not telecom people," he said. "They have IT people, and to be able to manage, maintain, and support a telecoms network requires telecom skills."

2. Evaluate public versus private 5G options

If you don't have the full complement of telecom skills required, it's much safer to rely on those who do to provide you with a secure 5G network. A public 5G network slice from a mobile operator may, in that instance, be better than a private, on-premise 5G network that you have to maintain in-house.

Tafazolli said that "you don't need to bother yourself so much with the maintenance and support of those systems" by choosing a slice of a preexisting public network.

But Woodward, a cybersecurity expert and a visiting professor at the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security, said that "some organizations may prefer a private network under their own control, despite the overhead of managing it, because they are handling sensitive data or have competitive concerns" and a private network is typically more secure.

3. Use 5G's configurable security

Business owners and IT leads may think they have to go down the private-network route because of security concerns. But 5G is a fundamentally different technology. 

"When people used to lay fibers for their own personal high-security networks, they would want their own 'dark' fiber because nobody would intercept it," Woodward said. "What one has to remember is that 5G has been designed with security from the start, all the way up from the IP level."

No system is foolproof or hack-proof, of course. But because 5G is a software-defined network, you can configure it to your needs. Evaluate your risks and use 5G's configurability to build the appropriate mitigations.

4. Partner with experts

"If telecoms is not your core business, you're going to need some help," Woodward said. While 5G is still maturing, experts such as mobile operators and infrastructure vendors can guide you through planning and deploying networks. 

Tafazolli said that as well as accepting what providers offer, "you can implement your own security as well." 

"It doesn't have to be a standardized security solution," he said. "You can put your own encryption against the mechanism for possible attacks."

5. Implement monitoring and automation

Operating a 5G network requires extensive telecom expertise that many enterprises lack. But there are tools that can help with advanced monitoring and automation, as well as improve performance and maintenance. Those tools can check and analyze uptime, latency in connections, and any use of the 5G connection to ensure that only those authorized can access it. Companies and enterprises should make sure to budget and plan for these technical capabilities.