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FCC Proposes 5G Cybersecurity Requirements, Asks For Industry Advice (fedscoop.com)
Presto Vivace quotes a report from FedScoop: "Cybersecurity issues must be addressed during the design phase for the entire 5G ecosystem, including devices. This will place a premium on collaboration among all stakeholders," said FCC chairman Tom Wheeler during a National Press Club event on June 20. "We continue to prefer an approach that emphasizes that industry develop cybersecurity standards just as we have done in wired networks." The FCC published a request Wednesday for comment on a new set of proposed 5G rules to the Federal Register focused on adding specific "performance requirements" for developers of example internet-connected devices. If a company hopes to secure a license to access higher-frequency 5G spectrum in the future then they will need to adhere to these specific requirements -- in other words, compliance is non-negotiable. Notably, these FCC "performance requirements" now include the submission of a network security plan. The report adds: "A quick review of the FCC's proposed 5G cybersecurity plan shows a six category split, organized by a companies' security approach, coordination efforts, standards and best practices, participation with standards bodies, other security approaches and plans with information sharing organizations. Security plans must be submitted to the commission at least six months before a 5G-ready product enters the market, according to the notice."
The summary mentions security a bunch of times, but it says nothing about any specific security measures or requirements. So I clicked through to the article. The article is similar to the summary: no specifics. It links to a long "requirements" document.
What does the document "require" regarding security? Answer: a written plan. 5G networks should write down their plan and send it to the FCC. It should have some specific list of headings and sub-parts.
So the result of this is ... paperwork. Yay...?