The Internet of Things (IoT) continues to grow as more and more devices, sensors, assets, and other "things" are connected and share data. Still, many remain concerned about the security threats and vulnerabilities of this environment -- whether it involves IoT networks, data, or the connected devices themselves.
Can 5G, the upcoming fifth generation of wireless mobile communications, help enhance the security of IoT?
IoT ecosystems can be especially appealing as the targets of attacks such as distributed denial of services (DDoS), in part because there are so many different components involved.
Two of the major security issues at the moment are the lack of effective security being built into IoT devices themselves, and the existence of a large number of different standards frameworks, says Paul Bevan, research director for IT infrastructure at research and analysis firm Bloor research.
"The problem isn't with the standards themselves; rather it is the challenge of translating between the different domains and frameworks," Bevan said. "You are only as secure as your weakest link, and this need to translate between frameworks could be one such weakness."
IoT security generally encapsulates existing security threats, but also has some unique challenges, said Patrick Filkins, senior research analyst, IoT and mobile network infrastructure, at research firm International Data Corp. (IDC).
For example, enterprises have long juggled with how to address end-point security. "To balance the costs associated with deploying hundreds, if not thousands of sensors, end-point security is sometimes relatively unaddressed," Filkins said. That can leave those end-points open to security breaches. "This puts much of the security heavy lifting on network and IT resources positioned further away from end-points," he says.
Research by Gartner Inc., estimated that worldwide spending on IoT security would reach $1.5 billion in 2018, a 28% increase from 2017 spending of $1.2 billion. The firm expects to see demand for tools and services aimed at improving discovery and asset management, software and hardware security assessment, and penetration testing.
The lower latency, increased bandwidth, and ability to dedicate network slices to specific use cases that are inherent in 5G design specifications will enable a range of new mobile and remote applications not been feasible with 4G technology, Bevan said.
"The most widely touted have been autonomous vehicles and control of remote medical devices, both areas where latency issues are likely to have serious, life-threatening implications," Bevan said. If users need real-time response from devices in the field then it is likely that 5G will be a major enabler, he says.
The new mobile wireless standard will allow enterprises to seamlessly connect more end-points to a network, Filkins said. "Of course, being wireless 5G will be another tool for enterprises to connect end-points as a potential alternative to a wired connection," he said.
While 5G is being hyped for IoT, many use cases will continue to rely on infrastructure leveraging existing wireless network protocols such as WiFi. "As such, the use case/application will dictate which approach best fits," Filkins said. The low-latency characteristic of 5G will be appealing to many verticals, such as manufacturing, he said.
A key aspect of 5G for IoT is in the design principles related to both the service provider mobile core and radio access network (RAN) portions of the network, Filkins added.
