Telecommunications providers should have robust security measures in place at 5G cell towers following a series of physical attacks from conspiracy theorists and other extremists, the Department of Homeland Security advised industry executives in a confidential memo last week.
The advisory from DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) comes after a spate of attacks on cell towers in Europe, and as agency officials reckon with other COVID-19-related threats, ranging from data theft to fraud.
“While the U.S. has not seen similar levels of attacks against 5G infrastructure linked to the pandemic, the tactics used in Western Europe [have] begun to migrate to the U.S,” says the memo, obtained by CyberScoop.