How OneLayer plans to secure 5G networks

Today, OneLayer launched a cyber security platform and IoT security toolkit. The solution raised $8.2 million in seed funding and is designed specifically for securing private cellular networks. 

OneLayer helps organizations improve their 5G security posture by providing real-time visibility into assets and devices connected to 5G networks, detailing the type of device, location and any vulnerabilities to give users greater transparency over security risks. 

This end-to-end approach to 5G security aims to give enterprises and technical decision-makers a solution for implementing cellular security on par with their existing IT security strategy, while eliminating the need for internal expertise on how to secure private cellular networks. 

Bringing 5G security into traditional IT security

The announcement comes amid the widespread rollout of private LTE/5G networks that are offering users greater connectivity beyond the borders of the traditional enterprise network, and opening the door to a wave of new IoT devices. 

However, the rise of 5G private networks has created new security vulnerabilities that many enterprises lack the tools to address. For instance, last year, only 9% of security practitioners believed their organization’s security posture was ready for 5G.

Part of the challenge is that 5G providers themselves are still coming to grips with securing 5G networks, with 48% of operators admitting to not having enough knowledge or tools to deal with security vulnerabilities is their number one challenge when implementing 5G technology. 

“Security is the main adoption concern for private cellular networks. Each organization has its own security standards for its enterprise IP network. They achieve their security threshold using various tools that have had years to develop and evolve. Yet, in the private cellular environment, major security ingredients are still missing and they cannot be simply applied in this ecosystem,” said Dave Mor, CEO of OneLayer.

OneLayer’s solution to this challenge, is to provide enterprises with the capability to manage 5G networks and IoT devices as they would IPs. 

“OneLayer bridges this gap, by enabling an organization to implement the same methodology they have in their IP environment, now in their private cellular environment,” Mor said. 

A look at the 5G security market 

OneLayer is the latest entrant to the 5G security market, which researchers valued at $580 million in 2020 and expect will be worth $5.2 billion by 2026 as the demand for 5G network increases among enterprises and cyberattacks start to target IoT devices. 

The provider is competing against a number of other vendors who are attempting to provide greater end-to-end visibility into private 5G networks. 

One such competitor is Fortinet, which reported $3.34 billion in revenue in 2021 and offers users two security platforms for securing private mobile networks. FortiGate, and FortiWeb are designed to offer protection against application level attacks and IoT signaling storms. 

Another is Trend Micro, which offers a security platform for 5G networks and IoT devices, offering end-to-end visibility over mobile devices while enabling users to enforce zero-trust protection and edge application protection, that recently announced subscription-based annual recurring revenue of over $550 million. 

While these are big competitors, Mor claims OneLayer’s use of IP languages makes it stand out. “Rather than speaking in terms of IP and cellular, we correlate all the different identities and speak in the IP language that security experts are familiar with,” he said. 

“We integrate both with authentication and authorization tools in the IP environment, as well as with the cellular core players. This allows for a standard of security that is identical in all your networks,” he said.