Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare

The trade war between China and the US has centered largely on escalating tariffs. But in many rural communities, the focus has shifted to the security of networks for which Chinese giants Huawei and ZTE have long provided equipment. As the 5G future approaches, the US is pushing small carriers to rip out and replace whatever parts of their infrastructure come from China, no matter the cost.

Huawei is suing the Federal Communications Commission for choking off its sales in the United States, the latest in the besieged company’s widening efforts to hit back at regulators and critics across the globe. The FCC voted in November to bar American telecommunications companies from using federal subsidies to buy equipment from Huawei and another Chinese supplier, ZTE. Washington considers both firms to be national security risks. “The FCC claims that Huawei is a security threat.

In 2016, the US Census Bureau faced a pivotal choice in its plan to digitize the nation’s once-a-decade population count: build a system for collecting and processing data in-house, or buy one from an outside contractor. The bureau chose Pegasystems Inc, reasoning that outsourcing would be cheaper and more effective. Three years later, the project faces serious reliability and security problems. And its projected cost has doubled to $167 million — about $40 million more than the bureau’s 2016 cost projection for building the site in-house.

Tech has been given surprisingly little airtime during the 2020 Democratic primaries. It has rarely come up on the debate stage. While candidates such as Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Andrew Yang, and Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) have made tech-related issues part of their platforms, the matter is often eclipsed by other political hot topics, including health care and taxes.

European Union communications ministers will gather in Brussels on Dec 3 to discuss how to safeguard emerging fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks. Their decisions could have lasting impacts on European countries’ ability to protect their people’s privacy, and ultimately, safeguard their freedoms. It’s critical that European countries not give control of their critical infrastructure to Chinese tech giants like Huawei, or ZTE. But securing 5G networks means more than preventing any one company from building them.

Apparently, Huawei has decided to fight a Federal Communications Commission decision that further curtails its business with some of its few remaining customers in the US, as it continues to advocate for itself in an escalating battle with Washington. The company is preparing a lawsuit that would challenge the decision—part of a broad recent effort by Huawei of more forcefully challenging US efforts to restrict its business.

Because 5G networks are interconnected, even a small amount of compromised equipment could be devastating to a country’s national security. 5G means that we must secure our networks from the “core” to the “edge.” At the Federal Communications Commission, we are in a position to do something about this threat. And we are. [On Nov. 22], my colleagues and I voted to prohibit carriers from using federal dollars to purchase any equipment or services from companies that pose a national security threat, including Huawei and ZTE. 

The US Department of Commerce issued a notice of proposed rulemaking and requested comment on the implementation of Executive Order 13873, Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) Supply Chain. The proposed rule sets out the procedures the Sec of Commerce plans to use to identify, assess, and address ICTS transactions that pose an undue risk to ICTS in the US, to the critical infrastructure or the digital economy in the US, or an unacceptable risk to national security or to the security and safety of US persons.

As part of its continuing efforts to safeguard the security and integrity of the nation’s communications networks, the Federal Communications Commission has barred use of its $8.5 billion a year Universal Service Fund (USF) to purchase equipment and services from companies that pose a national security threat. The Order adopted initially designates Huawei Technologies Company and ZTE Corp. as companies covered by this rule and establishes a process for designating additional covered companies in the future.

On June 27, 2019, I convened a workshop at the Federal Communications Commission to consider security threats that stem from the presence of certain Chinese communications equipment in US networks and from the related services these companies provide. This workshop gathered the views of many stakeholders, particularly in the wireless communications ecosystem, including carriers, trade associations, manufacturers, and academics.