David E. Sanger, New York Times Washington chief reporter and two time pulitzer prize winner, warned a UNF crowd of two hundred on Tuesday about the threat a Chinese 5G network could pose to Americas national security. Sanger was chiefly concerned with the Chinese cell company, Huawei, and their potential to dominate the 5G network, giving them the ability to control cyber security for any part of the world that wants a faster network. He cautioned the crowd about the power China could have with this capability.
“We know China wants to do this, because we did it.”
Sanger brought up China’s strategy to offer cheap 5G networks to developing countries, for the purpose of being able to monitor them. Sanger was referencing the United States pursuing a similar strategy in Africa in the 1950’s, when the American government offered to set up phone lines at a low cost, which allowed America the ability to monitor communications during the cold war. Now, on the eve of a "cyber cold war", China are the ones setting up the next network for the world to work on, and this time, developing countries will be in the hands of Chinese communication control, instead of American.
Sanger covered how important 5G was to the future of the world. He told the audience that the service was coming no matter what, and that trying to stop it would be a waste of effort.
“Merely banning Huawei will not solve the problem. Because at the end of the day, Huawei and other Chinese manufacturers are going to own forty or so percent of the worlds telecommunications network, maybe more.”
5G, according to Sanger, will have large industrial, medical, and societal impact. The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army demonstrated that it could even lead to remote surgery over the cell network in a video released last year. The world, always hungry for technology, will move towards 5G, and it will be everywhere. Because of this, cyber security becomes much more complicated. The advent of more and more network connected devices, according to Sanger, makes this all the easier. He mentioned things like wifi connected cars, fridges, and cell phones, as potential entry points for spyware. All of these network connected devices provide a different vehicle to gain access to your information, and if this is all under the umbrella of Chinese 5G it would be easy to track all sorts of habits, schedules, personal information and search history.
Sanger’s proposed solution to the 5G problem is a political one.
“We need more than just a technological solution. We need to begin to understand what our digital Geneva Convention is, what things are off limits”
Sanger mentioned that the only two countries that didn't want to attend a U.N. cyber security council were India and the United States. He believes without political cooperation, people are at risk of cyber attacks directly harming emergency services, or power grids, and thus putting people at risk. By having a meeting to set rules for global powers to follow, the U.S. can work in its interests the right way.
After the event, I talked to Ricky Sharp, a student covering the speech for his class. Sharp told me "I thought his speech was extremely informative, filled with details and a handful of relatable examples in recent history that captivated the whole crowd."
Comments