ZIUR has warned Gipuzkoa's industry about the risks posed by 5G and explained the most effective ways to protect against them

ZIUR Warns Gipuzkoa Industry About 5G Risks

The workshop, organized in collaboration with Irontec, brought together around twenty professionals from the industrial sector

ZIUR, the Gipuzkoa Industrial Cybersecurity Center, held a training day on November 13th for companies in the industrial sector. The aim was to provide them with information and protective measures against the risks associated with the implementation of 5G networks in OT environments. The meeting, which took place at the center's facilities, brought together around twenty professionals from industrial companies and featured Xabier Sarrionandia, an R&D expert in cybersecurity from Irontec.

During the session, the importance of understanding the potential weaknesses of 5G before incorporating this technology into industrial environments was emphasized. The workshop's objective was to help those responsible for companies' IT systems understand how 5G private networks work so they can adopt solutions that strengthen the security of their digital assets against potential cyberattacks.

5G technology represents a major advance in connectivity: it offers faster transmission speeds, lower latency, and greater capacity to connect devices. These improvements open the door to new applications based on Artificial Intelligence or machine learning, which can provide a competitive advantage for industrial companies. However, it also entails new cybersecurity challenges, an area that is essential to understand and manage correctly.

The course, which was held both in person and online, was presented by María Penilla, CEO of ZIUR, who stated that "5G is a viable alternative for creating private and reliable networks in industrial environments where Wi-Fi is insufficient." Subsequently, Sarrionandia explained the evolution of open technologies related to 5G and the fundamentals of this technology, and presented several outstanding projects in this field.

During the workshop, real-world application cases in industrial environments were analyzed, highlighting both the most common risks (such as the use of external services or identity theft attempts) and the best defensive strategies for protecting networks. Sarrionandia also explained how to set up a secure architecture for a 5G environment, especially in the industrial sector.

The day concluded with a practical demonstration on how to exploit a 5G environment if it is not properly deployed and secured. Participants were able to experiment with 5G network configurations, simulate potential attacks, and apply security measures in industrial (OT) environments, all under the supervision of professionals from ZIUR and Irontec.