On Tuesday, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) published an assessment of 5G network slicing. The paper, Potential Threats to 5G Network Slicing, presents both the benefits and risks associated with 5G network slicing. And provides mitigation strategies that address potential threats to 5G network slicing.

The group working on the report assessed the security, risks, benefits, design, deployment, operations, and maintenance of a network slice. According to the assessment, “network slice is an end-to-end logical network that provides specific network capabilities and characteristics to fit a user’s needs. Although network slicing is not solely unique to 5G, it is a critical component because 5G specifications call for network slicing as a fundamental component and therefore require network operators to adopt security practices that can mitigate threats like those described in this paper, such as Denial of Service, Man-in-the-Middle attacks, and configuration attacks. As with any emerging technology, with increased benefits come increased risks. This report aims to introduce 5G stakeholders to the benefits associated with network slicing and present perceived risks and management strategies that could address those risks. Read the full report here.