AT&T on AI's dark side and what we need to do next

If you're even mildly interested in the tech world, there's a good chance you've already heard about the dangers that AI and quantum computing hold for the near future. AT&T is concerned about it, too, and has some ideas about what to do next.

The blueprints are in

Mere hours ago, we told you that Google is also preparing Android 17 to protect you from the upcoming security apocalypse.

Now, AT&T and Ericsson have come up with a joint security paper that outlines the risks surrounding 5G and 6G networks in the future, where AI and open architectures will be much more common than today.

The plan says that the network infrastructure needs to embrace post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standards. While traditional computing systems protect our bank accounts, private messages and everything else, it relies on math problems that are incredibly hard for normal computers to solve but are quite easy for a powerful quantum computer to "unmask" in theory. If someone builds a large-scale quantum computer tomorrow, the digital locks on the entire internet could effectively be snapped open instantly.



Because we know this threat is coming, scientists are developing post-quantum cryptography. Instead of using the old math problems that quantum computers are good at solving, this new type of security uses incredibly complex geometric shapes or messy mathematical layers that remain a total mystery to both normal and quantum machines. Sounds fun.

So, AT&T and Ericsson say the industry has to collaborate and cooperate. Rich Baich, AT&T's chief information security officer, says that "all the players in the network ecosystem" have to think "about what role they need to play in securing an open and intelligent network".

According to Mikko Karikytö, chief product security officer at Ericsson, users "can't expect that security of mobile networks would be covered by any single player in this kind of stack".

Quantum computing, open, decentralized networks, and AI security are usually addressed as distinct topics. For 5G networks, combining them into a single view is novel and lays the groundwork for 6G security procedures.