My latest opinion articles

Securing Society 5.0 Introduction

Securing Society 5.0 – Overcoming the hidden threats in society’s greatest...

A term first coined by the Japanese government, “Society 5.0” describes "A human-centered society that balances economic advancement with the resolution of social problems by a system that highly integrates cyberspace and physical space." The fifth evolution of the society, enabled by the fifth generation of cellular networking and...
Open RAN Security

Open RAN May Be the Future of 5G, but Can We...

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...
5G Cybersecurity Safety

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...
Edge Computing Fog

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...
5G COVID-19

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...
5G Virtualization

Unlocking the Future – Why Virtualization Is the Key to 5G

Depending on who you speak to, 5G is either humankind’s 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...
Society 5.0 and 5G

Will 5G and Society 5.0 Mark a New Era in Human...

In their outstanding book, Wicked and Wise, Alan Watkins and Ken Wilber look at some of the most pressing ‘wicked problems’ facing the human race. ‘Wicked problems,’ they suggest, are difficult to define, but they are essentially unsolvable in the usual scientific sense. The authors go on: wicked problems, such...
5G Opportunity and Cybersecurity

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...
Canada 5G CA5G

Collaboration: The Unexpected Key to Success in Canada’s 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. Margulis’ research showed how single-celled lifeforms working together created an entirely...
Quantum Computer 5G Security

The Quantum Computing Threat to Cybersecurity and 5G Security

Recently, in the science journal Nature, Google claimed ‘quantum supremacy’ 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...

My latest technology articles

oran lexicon

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 you’d 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 TSN Manufacturing

5G in Manufacturing – 5G and Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) for...

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...
5G SBA IMS MEC Architecture

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 IoT Security

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

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 Cybersecurity

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. for reading tags in...
RFID Cybersecurity

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. It is important for people identification, as it is commonly deployed in the latest biometric passports.  It operates in several frequency bands like Low frequency band from 125 kHz to 134 kHz, High...
Wi-Fi Cybersecurity

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 Cybersecurity

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 Wireless Connectivity

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...

Latest industry news

S.3469 NETWORK Act

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 economic or industrial espionage against United States persons, and for other purposes." Officially called Neutralizing Emerging Threats from Wireless OEMs Receiving direction from Kleptocracies and Surveillance...
Bell Canada 5G

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 our initial 5G network, but frankly we don’t think that it’s the right time right now to officially launch it for marketing purposes. I just...
TeraGo 5G

TeraGo commences 5G fixed wireless technical trials in Toronto

TeraGo Inc. (“TeraGo” or the “Company”) (TSX: TGO, www.terago.ca) is a Canadian managed cloud and connectivity solutions company. It owns a national spectrum portfolio of exclusive 24GHz and 38GHz wide-area spectrum licences including 2,120 MHz of spectrum across Canada’s 6 largest cities. It operates a national fixed wireless network...
The Next Gen Future 5G Australia

Report: Inquiry into the deployment, adoption and application of 5G in...

Australian government's committee - The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts - has issued a new report on adoption of 5G in Australia. The report titled "The Next Gen Future - Inquiry into the deployment, adoption and application of 5G in Australia" lists 14 recommendations including...

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 stage 3 freezing will now occur in June 2020 while Release 17 will now be frozen in June 2021. Release 16 includes specifications that cover: Enhancement...
UK 5G Huawei

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 last few years to get its allies to boycott the Chinese telecom-equipment vendor. The U.S. has been campaigning against Huawei ostensibly over spying fears. However, the...
Rogers 5G Vancouver

Rogers begins 5G rollout in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal

Rogers announced it is starting to roll out Canada’s first 5G network in downtown Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal so it is ready when 5G devices become available this year. Rogers is using Ericsson equipment. 5G network will  initially use 2.5 GHz spectrum and will expand to use 600 MHz...
5G Threat Landscape

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 an overview of the challenges in the security of 5G networks. It also presents a comprehensive generic 5G architecture, the identification of key assets, the...
Huawei Position Paper Cybersecurity 5G

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 related to 5G security. Some of the 5G security approaches Huawei claims to follow and how their cybersecurity organized all have some interesting and applicable...
Accelerating 5G in Canada Report

5G Will Have Significant Positive Impacts for Canadians

Cities and rural communities across Canada will see significant economic and quality-of-life benefits as 5G is deployed. According to a new report commissioned by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association and developed by Accenture Strategy 5G will add 250,000 new permanent jobs to the economy by 2026. It also estimates that...

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Marin Ivezic

For over 30 years Marin Ivezic has been protecting lives, the environment, and enterprises by bringing together functional safety, operational resilience and cybersecurity approaches to critical infrastructure operators and adopters of emerging cyber-physical technologies.
He leads industrial, IoT and 5G security services at PwC. Previously he held interim CISO and CTO roles at some of the largest global telecommunications and technology companies. He also held Asia-Pacific and Global leadership roles at IBM, Accenture and Cyber Agency.
[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 to the author. See Terms.]

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Cybersecurity Partner @PwC 🇨🇦 Lead for OT, Industrial, IoT Security; 5G Security; Cyber-Physical Systems Security 🇭🇰 Interim CISO

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