The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) is looking for feedback on its new whitepaper series focused on safeguarding 5G wireless technology.
The Applying 5G Cybersecurity and Privacy Capabilities white paper series offers best practices and how to implement them. NIST said all of the capabilities featured in the white papers have been implemented in the NCCoE testbed on commercial-grade 5G equipment.
“The series targets technology, cybersecurity, and privacy program managers within commercial mobile network operators, potential private 5G network operators, and organizations using and managing 5G-enabled technology who are concerned with how to identify, understand, assess, and mitigate risk for 5G networks,” the NCCoE said in an Aug. 15 press release.
The release explains that 5G technology will provide a range of benefits, including increased bandwidth and capacity, as well as faster speeds. However, the NCCoE noted that tech professionals “are faced with safeguarding this technology while its development, deployment, and usage are still evolving.”
The white papers aim to help these stakeholders better navigate 5G cybersecurity. Last week, the NCCoE announced the first white paper, which simply serves as an introduction to the series and explains what to expect.
Simultaneously, the NCCoE also published the first technical white paper, which describes enabling Subscription Concealed Identifier (SUCI) protection. According to NIST, SUCI is “an optional 5G capability which provides important security and privacy protections for subscriber identifiers.”
NIST is looking for comments on the white paper series by Sept. 16. The agency also invites stakeholders to join the 5G Community of Interest to be notified when it releases a paper.
