Nigeria Studying Security Challenges of 5G Technology

Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), has said that 5G technology will go through rigours testing to actually know the security challenges there in.

This is as Nigeria gets set to join the league of the users of the latest 5G technology in the world, with concerns that security protocols and algorithms for 5G are now being ported from 4G standard and experts have discovered that this can allow device fingerprinting for targeted attacks and Man-in-the-Middle (MiTM) attacks. .

Researchers have also discovered three security flaws in both 4G and 5G, which can be exploited to intercept phone calls and track the locations of cell phone users.

And the scary part is that academics are saying that anyone with a little knowledge of cellular paging protocols will be able to conduct this kind of attack.

But Professor Umar Garba Dambatta, executive vice chairman and chief executive officer (EVC/CEO), NCC said that  “As we know the benefits, which includes, faster speeds, very low latency and much better capacity; but we should also know the risk associated with it more specifically the security dimensions, so that we are careful of what we are adopting,”.

Speaking after being conferred with the Special Fellowship of the Nigeria Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers which came with an Award of Excellence in Kano, at the weekend, during the Distinguished Electrical and Electronic Annual Lectures, Professor Dambatta, noted that many countries are very cautious of the security dimensions as they also adopt the 5G Technology.

“Although Nigeria should not be left behind, because the 5G Technology is new it still requires being extremely careful, which is why only a trial would reveal what the risks are, and that is why we are doing what we are doing to to address the challenges associated with the technology,” he explained.