Understanding the Challenges of Tackling Cybercrime Activities in the Era of 5G Technology

Abstract

Context: Deployment of 5G wireless technology has taken place in some developed and developing countries. The technology is expected to provide faster speed, greater reliability, low latency, in addition to opening up a new sphere of possibilities such as connected vehicles and devices. However, despite the expectation of improvements promised in the 5G era when compared to previous mobile wireless technologies such as 4G and 3G, there is a growing concern within the ICT industry that there are a number of security issues, particularly cybercrime attacks that may likely become rampant due to the power of the 5G technology. ICT experts agrees that 5G technology will result in massive data transactions due to the ultra-high speed, low latency and extra capacity provided by these networks. Therefore, there is the need to ensure that data and transactions are secured in such a way that personal information is not hacked, data privacy is preserved, and systems do not crash. Objective: The objective of this study is to analyze the critical challenges in combating cybercrime activities in the era of 5G technology. The paper will look at the security issues in the 4G networks and then compare it with the upcoming technologies expected in the 5G era. Method: The paper uses secondary data that was obtained by reviewing relevant articles written by various scholars on the topics of 5G technology, 4G technology, cybercrime activities in the era of 4G, how cybercrime will be tackled in the era of 5G technology, as well as evolution of mobile generation technologies from 1G to 5G. Results: The study highlighted a better understanding of cyber security threats, attacks, vulnerability in the 4G technology era and suggested a number of ways to deal with them and help to implement a secure information platform in the era of the technology.