US braces for future 5G world largely built with mobile network gear from China’s Huawei
- Plans afoot for encryption, segmented network components and stronger standards to protect US networks
US national security officials are planning for a future in which the Chinese firm Huawei Technologies will have a major share of the advanced global telecommunications market, and have begun to think about how to thwart potential espionage and disruptive cyberattacks enabled by interconnected networks.
“We are going to have to figure out a way in a 5G world that we’re able to manage the risks in a diverse network that includes technology that we can’t trust,” said Sue Gordon, the deputy to the director of the US intelligence community. “We’re just going to have to figure that out.”
Officials have not let up on their campaign to urge other countries to block Huawei – a company that the US claims to have close ties to the Chinese government – from their burgeoning 5G mobile networks, which will power everything from self-driving cars to military operations.
But they are cognisant that many countries already use low-cost Huawei equipment and will probably continue to rely on it, as they transition to the next generation of mobile communications, which will be up to 100 times faster than current 4G platforms.
“You have to presume a dirty network,” said Gordon, at an intelligence conference at the University of Texas, Austin last week. “That’s what we’re going to have to presume about the world.”