Tag: GEOPOLITICS

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, published an interesting study on the cybersecurity implications of the “decoupling” of Chinese and Western technology spheres and warns of more aggressive offensive cyber operations to come. The study, "The Two Technospheres: Western-Chinese Technology Decoupling: Implications for Cybersecurity" focuses on digital decoupling—establishment of two “technospheres", one driven by China and the other by companies and governments in Western nations. The study finds that technology decoupling is rapidly progressing with impacts on various sectors varying depending on how heavily they intersect with national security and personal privacy concerns....

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 states Act or the NETWORKS Act, the bill would require the President to block and prohibit significant transactions and interests in property of a foreign individual or entity that (1) produces fifth- or future-generation telecommunications technology; and (2) engages in economic or industrial espionage, or other related illicit activities, involving...

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 these few related to technology independence and cybersecurity: The Committee recommends that the Australian Government investigate ways to encourage the manufacture of 5G infrastructure within Australia. To help enable this, the Australian Government should establish a 5G R&D Innovation Fund to fast track the development and scale-up of alternative manufacturing...

According to a recent media report, Canadian key intelligence agencies - the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) - are divided over whether Ottawa should block Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. from supplying equipment for this country’s next-generation 5G wireless networks. CSE and CSIS were tasked with conducting a cybersecurity review to evaluate the risks as well as the economic costs to Canadian telecoms and consumers of blacklisting the equipment supplier. The Americans and Australians -- who are partners with Canada, Britain and New Zealand in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network -- have...

Not even 30 years separate us from the end of the Cold War. Yet, we appear to be witnessing the emergence of a new one, a technology Cold War between the United States and China. This time, instead of a ‘red under the bed’, the US government has declared there is one at the back door. It accuses Chinese technology companies of deliberately building vulnerabilities into their tech, allowing the Chinese to access and control the 5G critical infrastructure, and through it the connected devices and machinery at will. Headlines are dominated by the case against Huawei, and debate continues...

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, “Whoever owns the platform, owns the customer.” 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...

UK government’s Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) Oversight Board just published its fifth annual report for the Cabinet Secretary. The board, which is chaired by the head of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, has issued its harshest warning yet over the cyber security risks posed by Huawei and their involvement in future 5G networks. US government effectively banned Huawei from the US market since a report from US Congress in 2012 labeled it a national security threat. Washington has been since pressuring its allies to join the ban. Some, like Australia followed the suit. Others, like Germany or UK, haven’t,...

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 century’s 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...

On 14th March 2019, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the launch of his Annual Report for 2018 touched on security and geopolitical concerns of 5G (full transcript here). Stoltenberg said that allies are "...consulting closely on this issue, including on the security aspects on investments in 5G networks." The Secretary General acknowledged that “NATO allies have expressed their concerns over Huawei and their role in providing 5G infrastructure” and added “NATO takes these concerns very seriously.” “We will now assess the issue and find out how NATO, in the best way possible, can address the challenges in terms of investments into...

After Washington last week warned Germany that it would scale back intelligence data-sharing with Berlin if China’s Huawei was allowed to participate in German 5G implementation, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed back to assert independence. Merkel stated that the German government was keenly focused on security 5G mobile infrastructure, but Berlin would keep its own counsel. "Security, particularly when it comes to the expansion of the 5G network, but also elsewhere in the digital area, is a very important concern for the German government, so we are defining our standards for ourselves,” Merkel said. Reuters report here.

On March the 5th, 2019, Huawei opened a Cyber Security Transparency Center in Brussels as part of its 2 billion USD Cybersecurity project, to a great fanfare and large amount of interest "with over 200 representatives from regulators, telecom carriers, enterprises, and the media attending the event" (Huawei Press Release, 2019). Though not directly claimed in press publications, this project along with the centre itself appear to be part of Huawei's attempt to convince the public governmental and private business entities whom are potentially its 5G network technology customers that it would not compromise the cybersecurity of its products. The question...

Targeted cyberattacks against critical infrastructure (CI) are increasing on a global scale. Critical systems are rapidly being connected to the internet, affording attackers opportunities to target virtual systems that operate and monitor physical structures and physical processes through various modes of cyberattack. When people think of cyberattacks, their minds often go first to the financial sector. After all, that’s the type of attack people hear about most frequently; it’s where the money is and it’s what seems most natural for cybercriminals to target. Enterprises frequently focus on such cyber-enabled financial crimes to the point that they give too little thought...