teissTalk: Cybersecurity in the new era of 5G

teissTalk Host Geoff White was talking to Saj Huq, Director, LORCA; Stephen Douglas; Head of 5G strategy; Spirent Communications; and Ciara Mitchell, Head of Cyber, ScotlandIS

How venture capital is becoming more accessible for UK cyber security start-ups 

The London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA), a collaboration between the UK government and Plexal, an innovation hub, seeks to match the market’s demand for emerging cyber security solutions with tech start-ups providing them – in partnership with Lloyds and Queens University, Belfast. LORCA has outperformed its original £40 million target for venture capital (VC) fund-raising in the first three years of its operation by a factor of 5. The successful IPO of UK’s Darktrace, as well as the boost LORCA and similar initiatives can give to VC funding for cyber security start-ups can eventually lead to the the sector catching up with other, high-performing areas, for example with fintech. What the UK still needs to excel in this field is more of ambitious start-ups confident and assertive about pitching their business, as well as a growing number of the kind of serial entrepreneurs seen in abundance in the US. 

Who will build the 5G infrastructure? 

5G, no doubt, is still in its infancy. The commercial use case that was the main source of revenue for 4G is not so compelling: the difference between whether you’re connected to a good 4G or a 5G network with your smartphone can be negligible. Industrial and enterprise use cases are much more promising. But thanks to the density and the costs of building 5G towers and microcells, network operators can’t go it alone. Private companies and towns and councils will also need to make their own investments in new networks. What MNOs can  – and probably will  – do to adapt to this new set-up is shift to a new business model, where they become managed service providers offering not just the network but also the embedded cyber security and AI solutions that come with it. Rather than building their own 5G networks, another option for MNOs is to make partnerships with neutral hosts – or third parties that own the physical part of the cellular network – and build their own virtual networks on top of those. Unlike with 4G, a considerable part of the new network will be built by private enterprises, who, in order to improve the economics of network building, may share their ecosystem with external users, which, of course, will have huge cyber security implications. 

You can access the recording of this teissTalk here.