5G Security (And Why You Should Care About It), Christoph Heine and David Rupprecht

No ratings

Presented at Ruhrsec 2025 by

Christoph Heine

Abstract. The security of cellular networks is still frequently associated with the security of phone networks and personal communication. Attacks discussed in popular media mostly focus on the privacy aspect of phone calls and text messages, e.g. attacks involving eavesdropping or location tracking. However, with the introduction of the 5th Generation technology standard (5G) in 2016, the possible practical applications of cellular network technology have increased significantly beyond usage in phone networks. 5G introduces several new provisions that allow it to be deployed in advanced machine-to-machine communication contexts such as IoT devices, autonomous driving, or aviation. Furthermore, 5G’s new modular design makes it much easier to run a small-scale, dedicated 5G network by placing a greater emphasis on scalability, interoperability, and usage of more “classic” web technologies, e.g. TLS, OAuth2, and HTTP[1].