ENISA and BEREC join forces to discuss the cybersecurity landscape of IoT and 5G

The workshop took place during BEREC’s 34th plenary meetings of 7-9 March 2018 in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The aim of the workshop was to raise awareness among BEREC members about security challenges introduced by the increased use of IoT and the potential implications/lessons this has for the transition to 5G.

Opening statements to the event were made by Johannes Gungl, BEREC Chair 2018, Dr. Evangelos Ouzounis, ENISA’s Head of Unit for Secure Infrastructure and Services and Jonas Wessel, Chair of RSPG (high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy).

The discussion focused on IoT and 5G security related matters and the efforts taken by industry, research and policy-makers to find solutions to these issues.

ENISA presented its study on “Baseline Security Recommendations for IoT”. The study was published in November 2017 and has been presented to various international fora, including recently at the Mobile World Congress 2018. ENISA has been providing good practices and recommendations on securing IoT for several years and is continuing to support industry and Member States in relevant matters. The workshop concluded with a panel moderated by Dan Sjöblom - on what future implications the different security challenges may have for regulators and the deployment of 5G in the context of IoT.

In the context of the new EU Electronic Communications Code and the Network and Information Security Directive, the workshop underlined the significance of closer cooperation between National Regulatory Authorities and the private sector. Moreover, the importance of collaboration between ENISA and BEREC was highlighted, as well as the need to ensure cybersecurity in the highly dynamic and evolving landscape of 5G and IoT.