Mobile cloud computing is applied in multiple industries to obtain cloud‐based services by leveraging mobile technologies. With the development of the wireless networks, defending threats from wireless communications have been playing a remarkable role in the Web security domain. Intrusion detection system (IDS) is an efficient approach for protecting wireless communications in the Fifth Generation (5G) context. In this paper, we identify and summarize the main techniques being implemented in IDSs and mobile cloud computing with an analysis of the challenges for each technique. Addressing the security issue, we propose a higher level framework of implementing secure mobile cloud computing by adopting IDS techniques for applying mobile cloud‐based solutions in 5G networks. On the basis of the reviews and synthesis, we conclude that the implementation of mobile cloud computing can be secured by the proposed framework because it will provide well‐protected Web services and adaptable IDSs in the complicated heterogeneous 5G environment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.