As the world maneuvers to find the right ways to protect the ever-expanding telecom space, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a specialized agency of the United Nations focused on information and communication technologies, being an international organization, gains a pivotal role. In the recently concluded meeting of Study Group 17 held in Geneva from 8 to 17 April 2025, ITU accepted three work items on security proposed by India’s Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), DoT, and GoI. 

The concerned work items intend to drive the security domain in global telecom standards towards a safer and better telecom space. These strides aim to protect users as mobile phones and networks take over people's public and private spaces. Additionally, as networks expand their reach and upgrade themselves with AI and quantum principles, it becomes more important than ever for the regulatory bodies to ascertain the boundaries and norms, helping people protect their digital and personal spaces. 

In International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) Study Group 17 meeting held at Geneva from 8 - 17 April 2025, the following three new work items from TEC @DoT_India on “Security” have been accepted driving forward security domain in global telecom standards: (1/3)

— TEC DoT India (@TEC_DoT_India) April 20, 2025

The Three Work Items 

The three Indian work items accepted by the ITU concerning security include 
1. Security Guidelines for Software-Defined Heterogeneous Networks Architecture against AI-Generated Attacks and Threats.
2. Guideline for Preventing and Mitigating Adversarial Attacks on LLMs in Metaverse and Digital Twin Environments. 
3. Cyber Security Capability Maturity Model for Telecommunications Organizations (C2M2). 

The three, altogether, aim to establish a telecom ecosystem that is safe and secure from the emerging technologies and upcoming advancements. New advancements like AI, quantum, metaverse, and digital twins all present an opportunity for the industry to deliberate upon and develop solutions suiting the security and privacy needs forever. 

Growing Threats

They say outcomes are nothing but a manifestation of what we want the objects to do. Likewise, as the telecom space upgrades itself for the next generation of network connectivity, potentially an amalgamation of all the modalities, it is more important than ever for the industry to prepare itself to tackle these challenges. 

Preparedness Initiative 

As the technology leaps, such preparation becomes a usual business to ensure a safe and secure telecom space for the people. This would also ensure that the people feel more confident about the technology and, in turn, adopt it willingly and not live under the fear of something unfortunate happening to their lives or data. 

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to information and communication technologies (ICTs). It plays a key role in advancing global connectivity, managing the allocation of radio spectrum and satellite orbits, establishing technical standards, and promoting access to ICTs in underserved communities.