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How 5G Will Transform Economy and Society
Since the dawn of the 21st Century, the ways in which people and organizations that use the Internet experience, perceive and act in the...
5G Critical Infrastructure – the Most Critical of All
Not even 30 years separate us from the end of the Cold War. Yet, we appear to be witnessing the emergence of a new...
Geopolitics of 5G and 5G-Connected Massive & Critical IoT
Emerging Technology and Geopolitics of 5G
There are several reasons emerging technology is a highly competitive industry, notwithstanding the race for intellectual property that can...
Will 5G and Society 5.0 Mark a New Era in Human Evolution?
In their outstanding book, Wicked and Wise, Alan Watkins and Ken Wilber look at some of the most pressing āwicked problemsā facing the human...
5G in Manufacturing – 5G and Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) for Industrial Automation
In the recent report by IHS Markit - "The 5G Economy - How 5G will contribute to the global economy" - researchers claimed that...
The World of Cyber-Physical Systems & Rising Cyber-Kinetic Risks
We live in a world in which the way we observe and control it is radically changing. Increasingly, we interact with physical objects through...
AI-Exacerbated Disinformation and Cyber Threats to Democracy
Recent events have confirmed that the cyber realm can be used to disrupt democracies as surely as it can destabilize dictatorships. Weaponization of information...
IEMI – Threat of Intentional Electromagnetic Interference
As our cities, our transportation, our energy and manufacturing ā our everything ā increasingly embrace Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Controls Systems (ICS),...
The Quantum Computing Threat
Recently, in the science journal Nature, Google claimed āquantum supremacyā saying that its quantum computer is the first to perform a calculation that would...
Stuxnet and the Birth of Cyber-Kinetic Weapons
Stuxnet was the first true cyber-kinetic weapon, designed to cripple the Iranian ā and perhaps also the North Korean ā nuclear weapon programs. It...
5G Security & Privacy Challenges
Donāt let the ā5Gā in the title confuse you. This post is not only about the telcosā core networks, but about the 5G security...
Cyber-Kinetic Security and Privacy Threats in Smart Cities
More than half of the worldās population lives in cities. The UN estimates that by 2050 that proportion will be 68% - more than...
5G Network Slicing Technology: A Primer
Hyped as the technology that will transform the world, 5G is moving past the buzzword stage with first implementations coming to life in 2019....
Digital Double Helix: Why the Fates of 5G and AI are Intertwined
In 2013, George F. Young and colleagues completed a fascinating study into the science behind starling murmurations. These breathtaking displays of thousands ā sometimes...
Risks of AI – Meeting the Ghost in the Machine
In 1956, at a workshop on the campus of Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire, the field of artificial intelligence (AI) was born. Attendants...
Collaboration: The Unexpected Key to Success in Canadaās 5G
In 1967, Lynn Margulis, a young biologist, published a paper that challenged more than a hundred years of evolutionary theory. It proposed that millions...
Unlocking the Future ā Why Virtualization Is the Key to 5G
Depending on who you speak to, 5G is either humankindās greatest imminent blessing or its greatest imminent curse. Still in its infancy, and not...
Cybersecurity and Safety in the 5G-Enabled Smart-Everything World
Neil Harbisson calls himself a cyborg. Without the antenna implanted in his skull, he would not be able to see colour of any kind....
Will Telcos Lose the Edge Computing Battle as Well?
For many end-users of today's communications technology, the cloud is a somewhat mystical concept, a digital equivalent of aether. Most think of it as...
Open RAN May Be the Future of 5G, but Can We Keep It Secure?
It's been a year of contradictions for the telecommunications industry.
Like most sectors, it has been heavily impacted by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic,...
AI and 5G: AI at the 5G Core – A Double-Edged Sword
If you've ever been to an expensive restaurant and ordered a familiar dish like, say, lasagna, but received a plate with five different elements...
About me
Marin Ivezic is a Cybersecurity & Privacy Partner in PwC Canada focused on risks of emerging technologies. He leads PwC’s global 5G cybersecurity efforts as well as cyber-physical systems, industrial, IoT and critical infrastructure cybersecurity.
[This is a personal blog with guest contributors. All information is provided on an as-is basis. Any views or opinions represented here are personal and belong solely to the author. See Terms of Use.]
Latest industry news
U.S. lawmakers introduce bill targeting Huawei for industrial espionage
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers today introduced in Senate a bill aimed "To impose sanctions with respect to foreign telecommunications companies engaged in...
Bell Canada to pause 5G launch due to COVID-19
On Bell's BCE Inc (BCE) Q1 2020 Results Conference Call on Thursday new Bell's President and CEO Mirko Bibic said: "We are ready with...
TeraGo commences 5G fixed wireless technical trials in Toronto
TeraGo Inc. (āTeraGoā or the āCompanyā) (TSX: TGO, www.terago.ca) is a Canadian managed cloud and connectivity solutions company. It owns a national spectrum portfolio...
Report: Inquiry into the deployment, adoption and application of 5G in AU
Australian government's committee - The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts - has issued a new report on adoption of...
3GPP delays releases 16 and 17 for three months
In response to COVID-19 3GPP has delayed the next two 5G standards releases - releases 16 and 17 - by three months.
3GPP Release 16...
Huawei Greenlit for U.K.’s 5G Network
The U.K. government greenlit Huawei for a limited role in the U.K.'s fifth-generation telecommunications networks. This is a blow for American efforts of the...
Rogers begins 5G rollout in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal
Rogers announced it is starting to roll out Canadaās first 5G network in downtown Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal so it is ready when...
ENISA published “Threat Landscape of 5G Networks”
ENISA, the EU's always excellent cybersecurity watchdog, published "Threat Landscape of 5G Networks", a report on threats relating to 5G networks.
The report presents...
Huawei releases its position paper on cyber security
Today Huawei released its position paper on cyber security.
The paper is an excellent summary of 5G security risks, latest standards and industry developments...
My latest opinion articles
Open RAN May Be the Future of 5G, but Can We Keep It Secure?
It's been a year of contradictions for the telecommunications industry.
Like most sectors, it has been heavily impacted by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a slowdown in global 5G roll-outs being a notable result. Geopolitical conflicts have continued to muddy the market, with governments playing a more active...
Cybersecurity and Safety in the 5G-Enabled Smart-Everything World
Neil Harbisson calls himself a cyborg. Without the antenna implanted in his skull, he would not be able to see colour of any kind. Born with achromatopsia, a condition of total colourblindness that affects 1 in every 30 000 people, Harbisson's physical faculties are augmented by cyber technology to...
Will Telcos Lose the Edge Computing Battle as Well?
For many end-users of today's communications technology, the cloud is a somewhat mystical concept, a digital equivalent of aether. Most think of it as a formless abstraction "up there" when, in fact, the cloud is rooted in the ground. Or the seabed.
Despite rapid advances in satellite connection, almost all...
What COVID-19 Taught Us About the Need for 5G
There are many adjectives that could be used to describe the global outbreak of COVID-19, but perhaps the simplest might be: fast.
The disease has spread quicker than most people can mentally digest. By nature, humans process linearly. This pandemic has been a lesson in exponential thinking for the common...
Unlocking the Future ā Why Virtualization Is the Key to 5G
Depending on who you speak to, 5G is either humankindās greatest imminent blessing or its greatest imminent curse. Still in its infancy, and not yet commercially standardized, this technology has already been the most polarizing advancement we have ever seen in communication.
Consumers worldwide are captivated by promises of super-fast...
Will 5G and Society 5.0 Mark a New Era in Human Evolution?
In their outstanding book, Wicked and Wise, Alan Watkins and Ken Wilber look at some of the most pressing āwicked problemsā facing the human race. āWicked problems,ā they suggest, are difficult to define, but they are essentially unsolvable in the usual scientific sense.
The authors go on: wicked problems, such...
Opportunity and Cybersecurity in the Age of 5G
The human will to innovate is seemingly relentless. The history of our species is one of continual development, with the last 350 years, in particular, representing staggering technological progress.
The first industrial revolution mechanized production using natural elements like water. The second revolution used electricity to enable mass production; the...
Collaboration: The Unexpected Key to Success in Canadaās 5G
In 1967, Lynn Margulis, a young biologist, published a paper that challenged more than a hundred years of evolutionary theory. It proposed that millions of years ago, the eukaryotes emerged not from competition, as neo-Darwinism asserts, but from collaboration.
Margulisā research showed how single-celled lifeforms working together created an entirely...
The Quantum Computing Threat
Recently, in the science journal Nature, Google claimed āquantum supremacyā saying that its quantum computer is the first to perform a calculation that would be practically impossible for a classical machine. This quantum computing breakthrough brings us closer to the arrival of functional quantum systems which will have a...
IIoT and Trust and Convenience: A Potentially Deadly Combination
When microwave ovens first arrived on the market in 1967 they were met with public skepticism. Perhaps it was because, not long before, the same technology now promising to safely cook consumersā evening meals was the backbone of a military radar. Perhaps it was the $495 price tag (more...
5G Network: A Quantum Leap in Connectivity ā and Cyber Threats
The timeline of human history is marked by inflection points of major technological advancement. The plow, the printing press, the telegraph, the steam engine, electricity, the telephone, the internet: each of these breakthroughs precipitated tectonic shifts in how people lived and worked. Now, in the early part of the...
5G Innovation Zones in Canada for Launching AI and 5G in Tandem
In my previous post I argued that if Canada wants to succeed with its AI-focused innovation agenda, it should also be at the forefront of 5G innovation and development. Canada could get ahead in the global 5G race not by being the first to 5G, but by being the...
5G Health Risks – Health, Wealth and Tin Foil Hats
The rollout of 5G is one of the most anticipated events in humanityās technological history. But what about the 5G health concerns?
Itās the night before Halloween in 1938 and, as the tale goes, radio audiences tuning into Orson Wellesā reading of War of the Worlds are driven to panic.
Apparently...
My latest technology articles
The Open RAN Lexicon You Need
The telecoms and digital technologies sectors are notoriously jargonised. Eavesdrop on any conversation at an industry conference (remember those?) and youād be treated to a parade of acronyms, initialisms and technical terms that would sound like ancient Greek to an outsider.
However, with new technologies being developed and deployed at...
5G in Manufacturing – 5G and Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) for Industrial Automation
In the recent report by IHS Markit - "The 5G Economy - How 5G will contribute to the global economy" - researchers claimed that manufacturing will garner almost $4.7 trillion in sales enablement by 2035. Or 36% of the $13.2 trillion total opportunity of 5G by 2035. Manufacturing will...
Introduction to 5G Core Service-Based Architecture (SBA) Components
The interest in 5G and mIoT is exploding. It's exciting to see so many IT and cybersecurity professionals in my network trying to learn more about 5G and related technologies.
In addition to my usual articles about the societal impacts of these innovations, I'll start a series of articles introducing...
LoRaWAN Security 101 (Non-5G IoT Connectivity Options)
I get accused of focusing too much on 5G as the only future IoT connectivity option. I do write a lot about how 5G will revolutionize our society, become the most critical of critical infrastructures and about security threats with 5G. I see 5G, with its low latency, high...
Zigbee Security 101 (Non-5G IoT Connectivity Options)
Zigbee technology introduction
Zigbee is wireless PAN (Personal Area Network) technology developed to support automation, machine-to-machine communication, remote control and monitoring of IoT devices. It evolved from IEEE 802.15.4 wireless standard and supported by the ZigBee Alliance.
IEEE 802.15.4 standard determines specifications for the physical and data link layer and Zigbee...
NFC Security 101 (Non-5G IoT Connectivity Options)
NFC is a short range two-way wireless communication technology that enables simple and secure communication between electronic devices embedded with NFC microchip. NFC technology operates in 13.56 megahertz and supports 106, 212, or 424 Kbps throughput. There are three available modes of NFC communication:
Read/write (e.g.Ā for reading tags in...
RFID Security 101 (Non-5G IoT Connectivity Options)
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology commonly used for identification, status administration and management of different objects.Ā It is important for people identification, as it is commonly deployed in the latest biometric passports.Ā It operates in several frequency bands like Low frequency band from 125 kHz to 134 kHz, High...
Wi-Fi Security 101 (Non-5G IoT Connectivity Options)
The Wi-Fi represents wireless technology that includes the IEEE 802.11 family of standards (IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, etc.). Within 50m range, it operates in 2.4 GHz and 5GHz frequency bands,.
This technology was developed for wireless networking of computer devices and is commonly called...
Bluetooth Security 101 (Non-5G IoT Connectivity Options)
Bluetooth is short-range wireless communications technology based on the IEEE 802.15.1 protocol. It works in a crowded license free 2.4 GHz frequency band and shares this resource with many other technologies.
Bluetooth is the optimal solution for establishing small wireless networks called Piconets, by connecting two Bluetooth devices. One of...
Smart Home / Smart Building Connectivity Options and Their Cybersecurity
In a recent session on smart building cybersecurity, a student cheekily asked me "How did we ever connect anything before 5G?" At that moment I realized I might have been overdoing my 5G cheerleading recently. To atone, here are the key performance and cybersecurity attributes of the most commonly...
Introduction to 3GPP and 3GPP 5G Releases 15, 16 and 17
In a major milestone for 5G, 3GPP finalized the Release 16 in July - its second set of specifications for 5G New Radio (NR) technology. As a second article in my series of 5G 101 articles, this is a good opportunity to review the 3GPP process and major 5G-related...
Does the positive review of Huawei UDG source code quality mean that Huawei 5G...
No, no it doesnāt. Huawei's code might as well be extremely secure. Their code is certainly the most scrutinized. But the recent UDG source code review is not an evidence of security.
ERNW, an independent IT security service provider in Germany, recently performed a technical review / audit of Huaweiās...
5G Network Slicing Technology: A Primer
Hyped as the technology that will transform the world, 5G is moving past the buzzword stage with first implementations coming to life in 2019. Nations are racing to 5G with such fervor that it now became one of the hottest hot-button geopolitical issues.
With latency as low as 1 ms...
How 5G Will Transform Economy and Society
Since the dawn of the 21st Century, the ways in which people and organizations that use the Internet experience, perceive and act in the world is radically changing. We interact with physical objects and systems well beyond our sight and comprehension. Our cars, homes, factories and public transportation are controlled increasingly by computer chips and sensors. This interconnectedness already exceeds much of last centuryās science fiction imaginings, but is poised to accelerate even more dramatically with the advent of 5G.
Popular telecom carrier driven expectations about the speed and capacity of 5G consumer mobile service tend to obscure the broader...
5G Network: A Quantum Leap in Connectivity ā and Cyber Threats
The timeline of human history is marked by inflection points of major technological advancement. The plow, the printing press, the telegraph, the steam engine, electricity, the telephone, the internet: each of these breakthroughs precipitated tectonic shifts in how people lived and worked. Now, in the early part of the 21st century, we stand witness to the birth of a new industrial revolution built on 5th generation cellular technology - 5G network.
As the name implies, 5G network follows a developmental chain. First came 1G, the first generation of cellular communication that freed us to make voice calls without being tethered...
Geopolitics of 5G and 5G-Connected Massive & Critical IoT
Emerging Technology and Geopolitics of 5G
There are several reasons emerging technology is a highly competitive industry, notwithstanding the race for intellectual property that can be licensed by burgeoning markets for revenue. A first-mover advantage is often a way to lock in relationships that can lead to long-term infrastructure commitments, integration support services, and service delivery platform development. As the adage goes, āWhoever owns the platform, owns the customer.ā This race to be the first to establish technological platforms and lock-in their customers is increasingly becoming politicized. And 5G, the next generation of cellular mobile communications technology, is the best...
Cyber-Kinetic Risk – Unintended Consequence of IoT in a 5G World
Getting smart about security in smart systems
Smart used to be something we called people or pets. It wasn't a term one would use to describe one's hairbrush. That is changing, of course, in an era of accelerating digital transformation. Now we have smart homes, smart cities, smart grids, smart refrigerators and, yes, even smart hairbrushes. What's not so smart, though, is the way the cybersecurity and cyber-kinetic security risks of these systems are often overlooked, and with new horizon technologies like 5G, these problems are set to grow exponentially.
Cyber-physical systems and the smartification of our world
Cyber-connected objects have become...
Cyber-Kinetic Security and Privacy Threats in Smart Cities
More than half of the worldās population lives in cities. The UN estimates that by 2050 that proportion will be 68% - more than 6 billion people living in high-density conditions. This raises significant challenges. What is the best way to ensure that human needs are met in a fair and equitable way? How will we face challenges like resource strain, waste and pollution management, traffic congestion and connectivity?
In response to these wicked problems, cities are increasingly relying on smart technologies to foster greater efficiency and sustainable growth. These interventions do not, however, come without their own complications. Just...
Three Views of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Future
If youāve read the many predictions about the future of AI, youāve likely found them to be wildly different. They range from AI spelling doom for humanity, to AI ushering in Golden Age of peace, harmony and culture, to AI producing barely a blip on societyās path toward ever-greater technological achievement.
Those three views ā dystopian, utopian and organic ā present issues we need to consider as we move deeper toward an AI-integrated future. Yet they also contain exaggerations and false assumptions that we need to separate from reality.
The Dystopian View of AI Future
Those with a dystopianĀ view of emerging technologies...
Collaboration: The Unexpected Key to Success in Canadaās 5G
In 1967, Lynn Margulis, a young biologist, published a paper that challenged more than a hundred years of evolutionary theory. It proposed that millions of years ago, the eukaryotes emerged not from competition, as neo-Darwinism asserts, but from collaboration.
Margulisā research showed how single-celled lifeforms working together created an entirely new organism that became the foundation of all advanced life on earth. This was an inflection point in the development of evolutionary biology, shifting the scientific and cultural narrative away from āsurvival of the fittestā towards āsurvival of the most cooperative.ā
Though competition contributes to better individual or organizational performance, it...
Introduction to 5G Core Service-Based Architecture (SBA) Components
The interest in 5G and mIoT is exploding. It's exciting to see so many IT and cybersecurity professionals in my network trying to learn more about 5G and related technologies.
In addition to my usual articles about the societal impacts of these innovations, I'll start a series of articles introducing key 5G and mIoT technology concepts. Before we move on to technical aspects of 5G security.
Let's get started with reviewing the 5G core service-based architecture and learning the first few dozen acronyms, out of approximately a gazillion. The cellular industry loves acronyms. Even more than the cybersecurity industry.
5G architecture is...
The Quantum Computing Threat
Recently, in the science journal Nature, Google claimed āquantum supremacyā saying that its quantum computer is the first to perform a calculation that would be practically impossible for a classical machine. This quantum computing breakthrough brings us closer to the arrival of functional quantum systems which will have a profound effect on today's security infrastructure. How will quantum computing affect the security of 5G technologies currently being developed and deployed?
Last spring we suggested that the emergence of quantum internet connectivity and computation, expected sometime in the next decade, poses numerous new cryptography and cybersecurity challenges for 5G security.
MIT offers...
Resources
@strat_sec Twitter
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"The non-standalone 5G networks currently run by mobile operators are at risk of cyberattack due to well-documented vulnerabilities in industry standard protocols, but the migration to standalone infrastructure will bring its own set of security issues." https://www.scmagazine.com/endpoint-security/migrating-to-stand-alone-networks-alone-wont-secure-5g/?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com
5G and edge computing: How it will affect the enterprise in the next five years - Smaller data centers that are closer to the customer edge require light-speed connectivity, and #5G happens to have that in spades... https://zd.net/2Yzwzty via @ZDNet & @SMFulton3
Meet Sir Tim Berners-Lee: First he designed the World Wide Web, now heās redesigning it https://wef.ch/2MK9gKT #Internet #Cyberspace
5G Network: A Quantum Leap in Connectivity and Cyber Threats - Marin Ivezic - #5G will change everything. With this tremendous power comes tremendous risk. We need to think differently about #cybersecurity #5GSecurity #CyberKinetic https://5gs.ec/2WniIpE
Dual-mode #5G Core offers #CSPs deployment flexibility for a smooth evolution to 5G Core, while managing TCO with efficiency. š§āš» Read more in our blog post and get our complete guide to the 5G Core journey: http://m.eric.sn/w1kh50CNWiO #5Gcore #CloudNative
Palo Alto Networks predicts #5G opens up new #cybersecurity threats - Telecommunications companies have been aggressive in rolling out 5G infrastructure... The more connected people are, the more vulnerable are data to cybesercurity threats. #5GSecurity https://5gs.ec/3tdu5Pv
5G drones to deliver packages in Florida - Verizon has announced a collaboration with United Parcel Service (UPS) to test #5G to deliver retail packages via #drones to residents at The Villages retirement community in Florida https://5gs.ec/3csPgao
Sweden completes #5G spectrum auction in one day https://5gs.ec/3tdsEjZ
2021 is the fifth 'year of #5G,' and possibly the most interesting https://5gs.ec/3ozWewD
5Gās Huge Upfront Bill Will Come Due- Spectrum auction will cost carriers about $95 billion, but payoff is uncertain #5G https://5gs.ec/3jaWy3N
