# What is 5G Network Security?

> 5G network security protects fifth-generation mobile-network services and their supporting infrastructure, identities, communications, and operations.

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- Language: en
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## Content

Its scope includes user equipment, radio access networks, the 5G core, transport, roaming and interconnection, management systems, virtualized or cloud platforms, network functions, application interfaces, private networks, and edge computing deployments.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifies security architecture and procedures for the 5G System, including authentication, key establishment, subscriber-identity protection, and protected interfaces. Operators must configure those capabilities, secure the compute and orchestration stack, separate data-plane, control-plane, and operations traffic, monitor changes, and govern administrative access.

### Key points

- **Security layers:** Protect radio access, subscriber credentials, service-based interfaces, network-function identities, inter-operator connections, APIs, workloads, and management planes according to their distinct trust relationships.
- **Deployment context:** Record whether the service is standalone or depends on earlier-generation infrastructure, how networks interwork, which security options are enabled, and where provider and customer responsibilities change.
- **Privacy and resilience:** Minimize exposure of subscriber identifiers and location data, restrict operational telemetry, design for signaling abuse and denial of service, and test recovery without disrupting critical users.
- **Important limitation:** The presence of 5G features, a private deployment, or a network slice does not by itself establish end-to-end security or hard isolation. Optional or misconfigured protections, compromised endpoints or identities, shared infrastructure, legacy interworking, cloud-layer weaknesses, and radio jamming can remain material risks.

### Related terms

[Wireless security](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/wireless-security/>) · [Network security](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/network-security/>) · [Network segmentation](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/network-segmentation/>) · [Zero trust architecture (ZTA)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/zero-trust-architecture/>) · [Virtualization security](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/virtualization-security/>)

### Sources

[3GPP TS 33.501: Security Architecture and Procedures for 5G System](https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=3169) · [NIST CSWP 36: Applying 5G Cybersecurity and Privacy Capabilities—Introduction to the White Paper Series](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/cswp/36/applying-5g-cybersecurity-and-privacy-capabilities/final) · [NIST CSWP 36E: 5G Network Security Design Principles](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/cswp/36/e/5g-network-security-design-principles/final)

## Attribution and scope

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