Enhanced Security is Driving Private 5G Network Adoption

Global organizations say they’re ready to team up with partners to make it happen

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 20 June 2022 – Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, today announced a new study* revealing the prospect of improved security and privacy capabilities are the main motivations behind private 5G wireless network projects.

To read a full copy of the report, Security Expectations in Private 5G Networks: A journey with partners, please visit here or join the webinar with Trend Micro and 451 Research on June 23 here.

“Private 5G networks are cloudy: two-thirds of respondents told us their deployments will use the technology in some way,” said Eric Hanselman, chief analyst at 451 Research, a part of S&P Global market intelligence. “Yet the cloud’s shared responsibility model means these enterprise customers will need to build their own security capabilities. They said they’ll need expert security partners to help them on this journey. Organizations have great expectations for 5G security, but the quality of their partnerships will be the real differentiator.”

Across smart factories, smart hospitals, and other locations, a growing range of organizations is looking to private 5G networks for coverage, control, low latency, and enhanced security as one of the enterprise networks.

“We see security risk management as one of the key drivers of the business. There is also a strong desire to focus on ensuring organizations achieve situational awareness across IT, OT, and CT communication technology, such as private 5G,” said Yohei Ishihara, security evangelist at Trend Micro.

However, such environments raise a different set of security issues than those in traditional IT and OT environments. While the biggest concern (31%) for respondents is the exposure of data carried on the private wireless network, they also highlighted top key attack vectors, including:

• OS software vulnerabilities (37%)
• Configuration errors (34%)
• Networking equipment vulnerability (33%)
• Device vulnerabilities on RAN (31%) and CORE (27%) networks
• Compromise of connected network (27%)

Adding further challenges to security projects is the fact that nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents expect full integration of private wireless network security with existing operational security. More than half (55%) also want to make this work via automated connections.

Given the complexity of such projects, it is not surprising that over half (58%) of respondents said they would carry out risk assessments either jointly with partners or outsourcing the task completely, while 33% said they’d work with a third party.

Industry-specific security experience (24%) is the top criteria for organizations looking for IT partners, and 19% of them say they want to work with existing partners.

*Trend Micro commissioned 451 Research to poll 400 information security decision-makers from 400 US, Germany, UK, and Spain organizations.

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro’s cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, the platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 65 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. www.trendmicro.com.hk

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