Upcoming 5G internet systems have garnered much attention for the political tensions surrounding their implementation. As with the space race last century, 5G networking has become another proxy battle for global influence and technological market share between global superpowers; in this case: the US and China. Geopolitical concerns are taking attention away from a basic technical issue: the requirements of the hardware needed to introduce the new networking medium. With networking speeds of 10 gigabits per second possible and the introduction of wireless networking across phones, desktop computers and a burgeoning number of integrated circuits, the challenges presented by widespread 5G availability are more driven by the very ubiquity of data transfer than by shadowy espionage plots in government intelligence offices.
Major disruptions in the tech industry create massive opportunities for those who can be the first to bring products to market. The number of devices and contracts moved by the first major carriers to bring 5G to fruition will ensure them a leading place in the existent global market as well as the continually increasing ecosystem of data-dependent devices integrated into daily activities. 5G internet functions will use both higher-frequency waves than current wireless internet as well as more directed contact with any given connected device. Once initiated, this will allow high-speed data transmission untethered to ethernet cables. It is far faster than current wired broadband connections and could be integrated as a public utility. South Korea, for instance, has vowed to develop this capacity. There is no unified standard in 5G hardware development and the process itself is more suitable to vendor-agnostic implementation that will allow a plethora of endpoints to accept transmissions from devices before routing them through internet service providers and the global backbone.
Early 5G services are highly unlikely to reach promised speeds of 10 gigabits per second or to be widely available within the first few years of operation. Current phone and computer hardware cannot transmit or receive the format of 5G signals and the proliferation of 5G-enabled phones and routers will take time. The espionage risks of what amounts to “replumbing” the planet’s internet endpoints has obvious value for selling newspapers. The political and economic reality of national motivations is highly tribal. Still, the highest security risk posed by the technology is the very ubiquity it enables for unbounded communications across a boundless proliferation of wireless devices from pacemakers to automotive computer systems.
Hardware and software backdoors installed at the behest of national interests have been used by both Chinese and US security interests. The WannaCry malware was produced on the framework of the publicized Eternal Blue exploit developed for Windows systems by the NSA, and Chinese theft of intellectual property is a belabored and oft-repeated news item. The increasingly inexpensive integration of wireless transmission onto anything with a power source demands a fast and ubiquitous network. The short-range signals that will enable this need a plethora of new access points. This will create a wealth of orders for whichever carriers are first to market. All this data begets not only greater collection of information on our schedules, spending habits and other electronically-monitored activities, but also more opportunities to intercept and misuse such data. 5G will have a broad spectrum of possible implementations. The capacity to download movies in seconds is excellent for bored commuters, but the system will utilize slower yet more reliable options that prioritize consistent communication with wearable devices or sensor networks.
The proliferation of sensor technology has exposed how much of this data is unencrypted and handled by porous endpoints. An efficient future of digital coordination cannot happen without 5G networks, but the deregulation of the telecom industry leaves considerable opportunity for security holes. The perceived criticality of 5G influence may be incentivizing technologies to be rushed to market quickly, cheaply, and without the necessary updates to old and insecure networking protocols. The European Union Agency for Network and Information Security has identified possible security vulnerabilities in the continued use of outdated protocols including SS7, a holdover from the early 2000s. Encryption and verification in data transfer required for network and processor overhead is all too easily omitted when speed and early deployment are desired above all else.
The shortcomings of any new technology are most prevalent in its earliest stages. The world will require the speed and availability of 5G networking, and the technology has the potential to create new national industries for the United States, China and South Korea. Arguments about protectionism are a product of the current political climate, but if a critical element of the networks controlling our vehicular, medical and social developments for the next decade is constructed without sufficient constraints for safety and security, it could result in grevious harm that long outlasts our current political climate.
