Security Threats at the 5G Air Interface and Implications for Telemedicine Reliability: A Literature Survey

Abstract: The rollout of fifth-generation (5G) networks has opened up new possibilities for telemedicine. It allows for real-time remote diagnostics, ongoing patient monitoring, and high-speed clinical communication. However, the open wireless nature of the 5G air interface brings significant security risks. These vulnerabilities can compromise network reliability and threaten the continuity of medical services. This paper reviews existing literature on security threats related to the 5G air interface, focusing on the reliability of telemedicine Quality of Service (QoS). This paper examine documented types of attacks, including physical-layer jamming, adaptive overshadowing, signaling flooding at the NAS and RRC layers, core network GTP exploitation, paging storms, and replay attacks. Thid paper draw on findings from recent peer-reviewed studies about their effects on important radio parameters like Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR), latency, jitter, and throughput. This paper also look at machine learning methods for detecting anomalies linked to these attacks as mentioned in the literature. By relating documented attack patterns to established telemedicine QoS standards, this survey shows that the security of the 5G air interface is a matter of patient safety that needs careful consideration in healthcare network design. The paper points out ongoing research challenges and future paths that connect wireless network security with digital health.

Keywords: 5G security; telemedicine; air interface; jamming; signaling flooding; anomaly detection; RSRP; RSRQ; network reliability; healthcare IoT.