MPS warn of 5G ‘security risk’ as more activity moves to internet
THE roll-out of 5G will leave the UK at risk of espionage and sabotage, MPS have warned.
A report on the security of 5G by the Commons defence select committee found that there would be a “greater surface for illicit actions” as more devices were connected to the internet with the new wireless technology.
The report said: “We share the Government’s objective that the UK remains at the forefront of the 5G roll-out as we move into the next technological era.
“However, 5G will increase our reliance on mobile connectivity and this represents a security risk, whether from ‘espionage, sabotage or system failure’.”
It added that “many more items will be connected to the internet through 5G”, which would result in “a greater surface for illicit actions which represented a risk to individuals as well as to defence and government”.
The Government decided in July to ban Huawei from having a role in the country’s 5G network, owing to tougher US sanctions restricting the Chinese company’s ability to build chips.
Huawei is viewed as a security threat because of laws in China that oblige private companies to hand over data to the Government if required.
British telecoms companies were told to remove the Chinese firm’s equipment from the 5G network by 2027 and stop purchasing new 5G equipment from it by the end of the year.
Writing on telegraph.co.uk, Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the committee, said that the UK’S “growing dependence on an online world has created a virtual theatre of war where we have become increasingly vulnerable”.
He warned that “online espionage and sabotage are the new battlegrounds”, adding: “Our international rules-based order was crafted in a predigital age.
“A major cyber attack, for example, could cause more harm than a dirty bomb but would not technically trip a Nato Article 5 response.”
The report said there was evidence that the UK and its allies faced “many malicious cyber attacks both from rogue individuals and state-sponsored attacks from states such as Russia and China”.
It warned: “These attacks are diverse in their nature and in their aims. Some attacks aim to steal individual data and state secrets whilst others seek to bring down the network in its entirety.”
The committee called on the Government to work with allies to formulate a system to provide accountability for perpetrators of international cyber attacks, and backed the proposal to form a “D10 alliance” of the world’s 10 largest democracies to provide alternatives to Chinese technology.
“The West must urgently unite to advance a counterweight to China’s tech dominance,” it added.
A Huawei spokesman said: “This report lacks credibility, as it is built on opinion rather than fact.
“We’re sure people will see through these accusations of collusion and remember instead what Huawei has delivered for Britain over the past 20 years.”