NEC tapped Fortinet to help build a security platform targeted at 5G network deployments, which are increasingly becoming a connection option for enterprises.

NEC is providing its professional services and 5G expertise with service providers, while Fortinet is providing its FortiGate next-generation firewall. The combined platform will provide operators with a single management point for monitoring and mitigating cybersecurity threats against 5G radio access networks (RAN), mobile roaming, and edge deployments.

Fortinet last year launched its FortiGate 7121F firewall targeted at 5G packet core security. It’s built around the vendor’s custom security processing unit ASIC that can handle firewall throughputs up to 1.9 Tb/s, threat prevention and SSL inspection of more than 500 Gb/s, and as many as one billion sessions at any given time. This allows 5G mobile operators to secure multiple edges within the infrastructure.

Network equipment vendors have been bolstering their 5G security posture as use cases begin to hit the market.

Nokia last year launched an extended detection and response (XDR) service that included deals with AT&T, Dish Network, and T-Mobile Netherlands.

That was followed by the launch later in the year of its Cybersecurity Dome product. That product uses a combination of machine learning, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and automation and response (SOAR) to allow communications service providers to monitor, detect, and automatically remediate security vulnerabilities. Nokia quickly added these cybersecurity features to its managed software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform.

Deloitte consultants at the recent RSA Conference highlighted potential attack vectors hackers could take in exploiting 5G use cases. They explicitly noted issues with network slicing that could create avenues for attackers to exploit devices and services running in those slices.

The presentation showed that an attacker could look for vulnerabilities in low-level devices running in one slice, providing examples of home automation tools or gaming devices that users are typically slow to update. That attacker would then navigate up that network slice and look for other potential vulnerable devices running in nearby network slices to conduct a horizontal attack.

This 5G security research is becoming increasingly important for networks that are being looked toward providing the basis for new services like private 5G services, telehealth, or controlling autonomous vehicles.

“It’s not about one network function anymore,” Shehadi Dayekh, specialist leader at Deloitte, explained. “In 4G or 3G networks, if something goes wrong, your phone call will drop or maybe your FaceTime will glitch. But on a 5G network we’re thinking 5G use case security.”