Earlier this month, a U.S. Army soldier was arrested for involvement in hacking activities that damaged the systems of major U.S. telecommunications companies AT&T and Verizon. The soldier is alleged to have accessed the networks of AT&T and Verizon through the platform of cloud company Snowflake in October of last year. Consequently, it is believed that the personal messages and currency records of 50 billion AT&T subscribers were leaked. In November of last year, the hacker group "Salt Typhoon" reportedly targeted the network of U.S. telecommunications company T-Mobile for hacking activities. They are said to have attempted to eavesdrop on wireless communications of high-ranking officials in U.S. intelligence agencies.
Recently, with a surge in hacking attacks targeting U.S. telecommunications companies, Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung Electronics are focusing on developing technologies to enhance network security. They are successively introducing related technologies, such as applying double encryption to network systems or providing separate networks with enhanced security.
The United States has the third-largest number of mobile subscribers in the world, following China and India, and it is an important market for Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung Electronics as it excludes market entry by companies like China's Huawei.
◇ From dual encryption of networks to hacking competitions
According to industry sources on the 9th, Nokia unveiled a technology patent earlier this month that allows telecommunications operators to securely encrypt digital assets, including cryptocurrency. This technology increases security levels by applying both standard encryption methods and special codes assigned only to individual users to two devices transmitting and receiving signals. Global telecommunications companies like Japan's NTT Docomo and Spain's Telefónica have recently entered the blockchain market.
Ericsson collaborated with a U.S. electric utility last month to install LTE (4G mobile communication) network equipment in local rural areas. By installing a backup network in the rural area, it is possible to segregate critical information, which requires a high level of security, from the existing network and securely store it. This setup also allows for rapid recovery of the system in case issues arise with the existing network due to severe weather or other problems.
Samsung Electronics hosted a mobile network hacking competition last month with a prize of $1 million (about 1.4 billion won). The competition involves setting various attack scenarios targeting networks, encouraging hackers to unlock devices or arbitrarily install programs to extract data, and then discovering vulnerabilities in the network. Samsung Electronics plans to analyze the vulnerabilities identified through the program to enhance network security.
◇ "There will be an increase in hacking attempts in the U.S. ... Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung to secure competitiveness through security technology"
Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung Electronics are focusing on targeting U.S. telecommunications companies as clients with various telecommunications security technologies. This strategy is advantageous since it is relatively easier to increase sales in the U.S. market, which excludes Chinese telecommunications equipment.
According to market research firm Omdia, in the third quarter of last year, Ericsson maintained a 66.5% market share in the North American telecommunications equipment market, leading the field, while Nokia followed with 18.7% and Samsung Electronics held 10.9%, ranking third. No other corporation has a significant market share.
According to market research firm Chainalysis, the average loss incurred by a global corporation due to cyberattacks, including ransomware, reportedly skyrocketed from $200,000 at the beginning of 2023 to $1.5 million as of June last year. The advancement of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) has gradually enhanced the level of data held by corporations, and the increasing value of digital assets, including cryptocurrency, is contributing to the rising scale of damages.
Shin Young-woo, a professor in the Department of Information Security at Woosong University, noted, "Recently, there have been active attempts by hostile nations to hack into systems to assess trends, taking advantage of the changing U.S. administration. Given that telecommunications companies hold a large amount of personal data, they are likely to be targets, so telecommunications equipment manufacturers are expected to develop various security technologies to secure their competitiveness."