Telecom spending on network security will increase, says Palo Alto CEO ET Telecom

With digitization taking center stage in industries, cybersecurity has become as critical as ever, especially in the 5G era, which has opened up a host of opportunities with artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and other technologies. But with such large-scale digital transformation, there have been alarming advances in the threat landscape that have made cybersecurity a global concern in boardrooms, Sean Duca, vice president and regional chief security officer, Asia and JAPAC, Palo Alto Networks said in an interview with ETTelecom’s Mansi Taneja. Edited excerpts: 5G will connect a huge number of devices and drive Industry 4.0 transformations. With so much digitization, what are the network security threats that may arise?

The 5G-powered era will bring smart connectivity, accelerate services to an unprecedented number of devices, enable rapid automation, and foster emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). But as the opportunities grow, so do the security threats.

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The low latency and high speed of 5G will allow cloud computing on mobile devices to compete with enterprise LAN connectivity on desktop computers. This can potentially boost cloud computing and lead to an exponential increase in edge devices, which will greatly expand the attack surface.

The 5G network is built on the foundation of 4G, which means that the same security threats present in the 4G network are likely to be further magnified in 5G. If existing security risks are not addressed in the 4G network and transferred to the 5G era, mobile Internet service providers could be the first point of failure during a cyber attack, halting critical services from healthcare to banking. 5G will also bring greater convenience to digital banking, real-time services and faster transaction processing through apps and remote technologies. But any misconfigurations at the application program interface (API) level will prove disastrous for banks, as they will allow cybercriminals to access personal data, manipulate a transaction or shut down a key service quickly and easily. We have seen examples of cyber attacks targeting critical infrastructures through the supply chain. In a 5G-dominated world, such attacks could increase dramatically, resulting in the loss of money, data and even lives.

Compared to previous technologies, how sophisticated will 5G networks be in terms of security needs?

Maintaining regulatory compliance on new and legacy devices on these networks is a challenge for CISOs. In this context, building a new network defense means more complexities, as security teams must rethink their approaches to network security. As enterprises work on this, attacks on the core network can multiply and become faster, opening the door to large-scale breaches.

How much do global firms spend on security compared to Indian firms? If you can share some data on this.

In India, these developments are pushing CISOs to increase spending on security and risk, which is expected to grow by 8% in 2023, according to a Gartner report. As in 2022, spending on security services will remain the segment that will achieve the highest end-user spending in India this year. This is in line with global cybersecurity spending trends, which see security spending grow 12.1% this year and reach nearly $300 billion in 2026.

While it may be challenging to measure exactly how Indian firms fare in terms of security spending compared to international firms, it is clear that spending is rising and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. From the perspective of telecommunications companies, network security costs will take up more of the overall IT budget, as 5G will mean increased vulnerability.

What strategies should telcos and enterprises adopt to reduce security risks?

The following three capabilities in an AI-led approach will be critical to securing 5G networks. First, extending Zero Trust security into 5G with next-generation ML-enabled physical and virtual firewalls will help secure the 5G infrastructure end-to-end. Second, comprehensive protection of 5G infrastructures requires consistent, detailed, real-time visibility of threats traversing networks so they can be detected in real-time, and third, automated real-time security enforcement at the 5G network and device level is the only way to outwit the threats in this complex environment.

What products and solutions do you offer in the Indian market?

There are multiple products and solutions depending on the needs of the enterprise. We offer native 5G security—a first-of-its-kind security platform focused on 5G to protect these advancements. It brings together our expertise in securing networks, clouds and devices in the 5G world, enabling service providers and enterprises to transform 5G networks into highly secure networks.

Much of the 5G infrastructure is built with cloud architectures, and our containerized 5G security is designed to secure highly distributed 5G networks, including edge clouds in multi-vendor, multi-cloud environments. 5G networks also allow service providers to offer a dedicated end-to-end network stretch, giving enterprises the confidence to use 5G for their core business activities. Palo Alto Networks’ built-in 5G security allows service providers to offer secure versions of these segments to their customers as a new product.

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