Security can be a big concern with any new technology, and some people have worried about how 5G networks will impact national security. Andy Purdy, Huawei CSO and former director of national cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security, is confident that 5G is no less secure than previous mobile technologies, and in fact may prove to be even safer.
Purdy explained in a column on Forbes that 5G utilizes the best security factors of 4G, while adding new protocols to address previously unresolved threats. New security protocols offered by 5G include enhanced user authentication and stronger data encryption. “I believe that all communications networks need objective, transparent protections that hew to international standards,” Purdy wrote. He went on to add that “given the advanced new technology 5G brings to bear on network security, it can make networks more secure than they’ve ever been.”