b'As a member of the O-RAN alliance, AT&T is helping to drive standards that transform radio access networks towards an open, virtualized, intelligent and interoperable system, which enables a more competitive and innovative supply chain. The alliance strives to virtualize the RAN functions with software-defined components thatTheres an opportunityrun on less-specialized hardware.to manage and detectAnd 3GPP focuses on interoperabilityRichard Durandthreats, using big data,across the global telecom space, so service providers can ensure that machine learning andsecurity isnt stripped away as 5G artificial intelligence-typetraffic travels among various carriers or between a private and a public 5G capabilities. network or cloud. The 5G implementations favor open source software, which can lead to faster innovations. However, open source software introduces some risk that can be controlled with the appropriate policies, transparency and testing,the software allows better protection of the software capabilities of 5G Velardo said.from a nefariousor just poorly designedmanufactured hardware player, she added.With the focus on software, theres an opportunity to manage and detect threats, using big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence-type5G doesnt come without its own challenges. A proliferation of devices capabilities. This helps to make the network even more secure, becausemeans a broad attack surface, so its critical that 5G is implemented we have the flexibility to counteract concerns in advance, he said.correctly with proper controls to mitigate risks. Those same architectures provide flexibility for rapid detection and mitigation of threats. Adopting 5G can also help reduce risks in global supply chain.Still, Durand said the risks are reasonable, theyre increasingly lower We know that there are concerns with particular countries andthan architectures based on 3G and 4G and we see iterative security manufacturers of products that can be found in wireless networks,improvements as this technology evolves.Singer said. AT&T also recently announced it is collaborating on a 5G cybersecurity But through O-RAN and 3GPP, the disaggregating of the hardware fromproject with the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Rockville, 12 13'