Tag: NEWS
Syniverse is a critical part of the global telecom infrastructure. It connects 300+ cell phone networks globally and acts as an intermediary for billing records and text messages sent between cell phone networks.
In the Securities and Exchange Commission filing Syniverse published last week the company disclosed that in May 2021 it "...became aware of unauthorized access to its operational and information technology systems by an unknown individual or organization." It also revealed that the security breach first started in May 2016 giving the attacker five years of access.
Syniverse claims to process more than 740 billion text messages per year...
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) published a new 5G security related paper - “Potential Threat Vectors to 5G Infrastructure”.
The report outlines three major potential threat vectors to the 5G infrastructure: policy and standards, supply chain, and 5G systems architecture. Each are described together with a number of sub-vectors.
The report also stresses that not implementing optional security controls can be damaging because it could make networks more vulnerable to cyberattacks.
The paper is available here: https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/potential-threat-vectors-5G-infrastructure_508_v2_0%20%281%29.pdf
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) released its Security in 5G Specifications Report about key security controls in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the main body developing technical specifications for fifth generation of mobile telecommunications (5G) networks. As vendors, system integrators and operators build, deploy and manage 5G networks, the ENISA publication underlines the need for cybersecurity and for the national regulatory authorities in charge of cybersecurity policy development and implementation to have a good understanding of these controls.
This new ENISA report is directly driven by the objectives set in the EU toolbox for 5G security - mainly...
National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) just published a preliminary draft of Special Publication SP 1800-33A, "5G Cybersecurity," - Volume A: Executive Summary.
This practice guide can benefit organizations operating or using 5G networks, as well as network operators and equipment vendors, and may be of particular interest to the telecommunications and public safety communities.
The public comment period is open through March 4, 2021
The guide is available here: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2021/02/5g-cybersecurity-preliminary-draft-nist-cybersecurity-practice-guide-sp
EDIT (26 April 2022): The SP 1800-33A draft guide mentioned here was moved to Legacy Files and is now available here :...
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released National Strategy to Secure 5G Implementation Plan, a government-wide plan to lead the world in the development and deployment of secure and resilient fifth generation (5G) wireless communications infrastructure.
The implementation plan lists specific actions the federal government will take as well as lead agencies responsible for implementing each effort. The implementation plan also lists a number of potential new research and development (R&D) efforts and priorities that agencies may undertake relating to 5G. Despite the plan being released in the final daysof the Trump Administration, it is expected that 5G...
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...
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 don’t think that customers are paying attention to this right now and that’s not what is top of mind for our customer base. They have other priorities, understandably.
Bell Canada started the deployment of its 5G network infrastructure this year, using Nokia's gear.
Babic did say that the infrastructure projects continue: "At...
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 with thousands of access points across Canada and operates five data centres in the Greater Toronto Area, the Greater Vancouver Area, and Kelowna.
TeraGo announced that it will be starting 5G technical trials in the Greater Toronto Area utilizing 5G fixed wireless network equipment from Nokia. These initial trials are expected...
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...
The White House released its National Strategy to Secure 5G of the United States to formally frame how the nation will safeguard its 5G infrastructure.
The 7-page policy document sets forth the president’s "vision for America to lead the development, deployment, and management of secure and reliable 5G communications infrastructure worldwide, arm-in-arm with closest partners and allies."
This National Strategy to Secure 5G will fulfill the goals of the National Cyber Strategywith four lines of effort: (1) facilitating the rollout of 5G domestically; (2) assessing thecybersecurity risks to and identifying core security principles of 5G capabilities andinfrastructure; (3) addressing risks...
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 of Ultra Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) support in the 5G Core network
Physical-layer enhancements for URLLC
5G New radio (NR) support for Industrial Internet of Things
LAN services
NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum (NR_unlic)
Release 17 is expected to address:
Asset tracking in 5G (ATRAC)
Communication Service Requirements for Critical Medical...
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 real reasons are much more complicated. See Geopolitics of 5G and 5G-Connected Massive & Critical IoT for my analysis of the 5G-related geopolitical spat. The underlying question really being about who would take the lead in the nascent "Society 5.0" / "Everything Connected" era and who gets left behind.
The U.K....
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 spectrum later this year.
With this move, the Canadian wireless operator is laying claim to being the first cellphone provider in Canada to offer 5G.
After the initial deployment in the four major cities, the network will expand to over 20 more markets by the end of the year, according to...
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 assessment of threats affecting 5G (threat taxonomy), the identification of asset exposure (threats – assets mapping) and an initial assessment of threat agent motives.
I don't fully agree with the report's mapping of relevance of asset groups to the maintenance of CIA properties, but, as the authors state "...the asset...
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 nuggets.
Once some of the self-serving statements are filtered out, this paper together with included references could serve as a good 5G security primer.
The paper, however, is coming somewhat short of addressing the key security concern with Huawei - namely the risk of the Chinese state gathering sensitive data and/or...