The Expanding Role of Cybersecurity in Telecom

Telecom networks sit at the center of modern digital life. They carry everything from streaming video and enterprise data to connected devices, smart infrastructure, and emerging immersive experiences. As those networks have become more software-driven and cloud-enabled, cybersecurity in telecom has taken on a much broader role that extends far beyond traditional network defense.

The current state of telecom cybersecurity is very much in flux as the industry navigates regulatory changes and increased cyberattacks. As of the end of 2025, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) removed governmental cybersecurity standards from telecom operators, turning ownership of cybersecurity requirements back to telcos, rather than relying on prescriptive federal standards. At the same time, Fortinet reports a 16.7% global increase in automated scanning activity, showing how attackers are industrializing reconnaissance and accelerating the path from exposure to exploitation.

In 2026, cybersecurity is not a standalone function within telecom. It is woven into how networks are designed, how services are delivered, and how ecosystems of partners, platforms, and devices interact at scale.

Cybersecurity in Telecom Today

Telecom faces a distinct set of cybersecurity challenges that shape how telcos implement and prioritize security. These challenges are less about isolated vulnerabilities and more about protecting complex, always-on systems that work to support other industries.

Always-on networks raise the stakes

Unlike many enterprise environments, telecom services can’t tolerate extended downtime. Security incidents often translate directly into service disruption, regulatory exposure, or reputational damage. As a result, cybersecurity in telecom is tightly linked to availability, continuity, and resilience, not just breach prevention.

Telecom’s role amplifies impact

Telecom infrastructure supports downstream services across media delivery, advertising technology, enterprise connectivity, IoT platforms, and public-sector systems. This makes telecom a high-value target for cybercriminals and state-aligned actors alike.

Ecosystem complexity increases exposure

Modern telecom environments are deeply interconnected. They include:

Multi-vendor network infrastructure
Cloud and hybrid platforms
Managed services and third-party operators
Edge and on-premise deployments

Defending this complexity requires layered security, reduced attack surfaces, and strong supply chain discipline.

Security shows up across the entire network lifecycle

In practice, telcos apply cybersecurity across:

Network build and modernization initiatives
Service rollout and provisioning workflows
Platform integrations and APIs
Device onboarding and connectivity management
Ongoing monitoring, detection, and recovery

This distributed footprint is what makes telecom security less about isolated controls and more about consistent, repeatable practices across environments.

5G (and early 6G) Cybersecurity

The rollout of 5G has fundamentally changed how telecom networks operate. Core functions are more software-defined, services are more configurable, and capabilities like network slicing enable tailored performance and use cases. These advances also expand the security surface.

In 2026, cybersecurity in telecom is closely tied to how 5G networks are designed and operated:

Segmentation and isolation are essential to ensure that configurable services remain logically separated and protected from one another.
Security-by-design practices are increasingly embedded earlier in planning, procurement, and deployment processes rather than applied after launch.
Operational resilience—including patching discipline, access control, monitoring, and recovery—is treated as a core security outcome.

Many telcos project that 6G will roll out as soon as 2028. As organizations engage in 6G research and experimentation moving towards this goal, the security conversation remains focused on continuity, ensuring that new capabilities can be introduced without creating unmanaged risk.

Global Resilience

As mobile networks become more interconnected and essential to national infrastructure, the impact of telecom cybersecurity increasingly extends beyond individual operators or regions. Many nations are now focused on the impact that massive cyberattacks could have on telecom infrastructure following the 2025 outage in the Iberian Peninsula.

While not the cause of a cyberattack, this outage highlights the need for better cybersecurity measures at an international scale to increase preparedness and maintain connectivity in times of emergency. This growing focus on cross-border resilience reinforces why telecom security can no longer be approached in isolation.

IoT Security

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most visible areas where cybersecurity challenges intersect directly with telecom operations. Telcos increasingly enable connectivity, identity, and lifecycle management for vast numbers of connected devices, many of which operateoutside traditional IT environments.

The scale of the issue is significant. According to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), connected devices and operational technology have become a regular entry point for attackers, with IoT-related activity contributing to a growing share of incidents across critical telecom infrastructure sectors. The rapid expansion of connected devices continues to widen the attack surface, enabling high‑volume, automated attacks that are difficult to fully prevent and must instead be continuously monitored and contained.

In 2026, IoT security within telecom environments is typically applied in several ways:

Device Identity and Authentication: Ensuring the network knows what is connecting and under what conditions
Segmentation and Containment: Limiting the ability for compromised devices to move laterally
Behavioral Visibility: Using traffic and usage patterns to detect anomalies on a greater scale

Rather than assuming all devices can be fully secured, telecom security models increasingly focus on managing impact and preventing localized issues from shifting into broader network disruption.

Cloud and Network Security

Cloud adoption and network virtualization have become standard across telecom, supporting everything from internal platforms to customer-facing services. As a result, cybersecurity in telecom increasingly centers on consistency—ensuring policies, visibility, and controls apply regardless of where workloads run.

Limited visibility remains one of the most persistent cybersecurity challenges in hybrid and distributed network environments. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has repeatedly noted that gaps in asset visibility and monitoring slow detection and response across cloud‑enabled and operationally complex infrastructures.

Across telecom environments, cloud and network security is commonly used to support:

Identity-first access to platforms and operational systems
Unified policy enforcement across on-premise, cloud, and hybrid networks
Secure remote access for distributed teams and partners
Baseline configuration and posture management for cloud workloads

Rather than replacing traditional network security, these approaches extend it, which helps telecom organizations manage complexity without fragmenting controls.

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Additional Areas Shaping Telecom Security in 2026

In addition to core network, IoT, and cloud security, telecom organizations are also paying closer attention to a few emerging areas tied to how networks are expanding and changing. These areas focus on securing more distributed environments, managing risk across multiple vendors, and improving the ability to spot and respond to issues quickly as networks grow more complex.

Edge and MEC security

As compute moves closer to end users, security controls must operate in more distributed and variable environments. Edge and multi-access edge computing (MEC) introduce new operational considerations around identity, monitoring, and remote management. In 2026, security at the edge is closely tied to standardization—using consistent patterns to reduce risk across many small sites.

Open RAN and supply chain security

Open, multi‑vendor network architectures increase flexibility, but they also introduce more complex trust relationships across hardware, software, and integration partners. As Open RAN adoption grows, cybersecurity efforts increasingly focus on maintaining consistent security expectations across vendors and ensuring visibility into how third‑party components are deployed and operated.

Security operations and detection at scale

Threat activity continues to accelerate. Fortinet reports that increased automated scanning highlights how quickly exposed assets can be identified. In response, telecom security operations are evolving to prioritize broader telemetry coverage, faster detection, and improved recovery coordination to minimize service impact.

Looking Ahead

Taken together, these areas show how cybersecurity in telecom is moving beyond standalone tools and becoming more coordinated across the network. As networks grow more distributed and software‑driven, security is increasingly used to bring greater consistency, visibility, and resilience across diverse environments—supporting more reliable operations at scale.

Supporting Cybersecurity in Telecom Networks

In 2026, cybersecurity in telecom is less about defending a fixed perimeter and more about protecting a changing system that spans networks, platforms, devices, and partners. As telecom architectures continue to evolve, cybersecurity supports availability, resilience, and trust across every layer of connectivity.

Insight Global supports telecom organizations across cybersecurity, technology, and professional services by helping teams scale the skills and delivery capacity needed to staff and support modern networks. If you’re exploring how to strengthen cybersecurity across your telecom environment, start the conversation with our experts today.

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