NIST Seeks Solutions for Demonstrating 5G Security Compliance

The National Institutes of Standards and Technology is seeking sources that can provide solutions for implementing cybersecurity standards and best practices into 5G networks. 

In a Federal Register post, NIST said it expects solutions that will help demonstrate how 5G infrastructure can mitigate risks and meet industry compliance requirements, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

“Participating organizations will gain from the knowledge that their products are interoperable with other participants' offerings,” NIST said.

NIST's request comes amid the U.S. government's efforts to reinforce cybersecurity measures by replacing complete gear kits from Chinese providers Huawei and ZTE.  

Selected sources will work together under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement in support of a project named "5G Cybersecurity: Preparing a Secure Evolution to 5G."

"The proposed proof-of-concept solution will integrate commercial and open source products that leverage cybersecurity standards and recommended practices to demonstrate the use case scenarios and showcase 5G’s robust security features," NIST said. 

NIST said it ultimately wants to produce a publicly available Cybersecurity Practice Guide as a Special Publication 1800 series.

It will serve as a detailed implementation guide containing practical steps needed for deploying a cybersecurity reference, NIST added. 

NIST is seeking sources in the sectors for trusted commodity hardware, local and network storage, switches and routers, security gateways, firewalls, virtualization software, policy enforcement, LTE and simulation equipment, among others.

Interested parties will be provided with a template for a letter of interest once they contact NIST.

NIST said it will contact the sources back for questions regarding the compatibility of their services with the agency's goals.