There is no doubt that I have heard and witnessed the conflict between the United States and China over the arrest of Huawei's managing director, Meng Wanzo, and the daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. The Americans have recently raised criticism and filed criminal charges for the company, including money laundering, bank fraud and obstruction of justice, and the company has ties with the Chinese government and its armed forces.
The company denies the charges and has sought to defend its record of privacy and security. At the same time, US allies, including Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan, either imposed restrictions on Huawei's equipment or were considering doing so, citing national security concerns.
But behind all these headlines, the controversy is also about the next wave of network technology known as 5G, owned by Huawei of China.
Here are five things you need to know about technology and its role in the tensions between the United States and China
1. What is 5g?
The company denies the charges and has sought to defend its record of privacy and security. At the same time, US allies, including Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan, either imposed restrictions on Huawei's equipment or were considering doing so, citing national security concerns.
But behind all these headlines, the controversy is also about the next wave of network technology known as 5G, owned by Huawei of China.
Here are five things you need to know about technology and its role in the tensions between the United States and China
1. What is 5g?
Instead of a protocol or device, the 5G refers to a set of networking technologies that aim to connect everything from self-driving vehicles to home appliances over the air. This bandwidth is expected to provide up to 20 Gbps, which is enough to load high-definition movies in seconds and use virtual reality and enhanced reality. On your smartphone.
The first generation of smart phones and infrastructure will be in the fifth generation this year, but the full transition will take several years.
2. Why is it better?
2. Why is it better?
5G networks operate on two different frequency bands. In one mode, they will use the same frequencies as existing 4G and Wi-Fi networks, using a more efficient encoding system and larger channel sizes to achieve a 25% to 50% increase in speed. In the second mode, 5G networks will use higher wavelength frequencies that can transmit data at higher speeds, albeit on shorter ranges.
Since the millimeter waves operate from short distances, 5G will need more transmitters. Many of them, sometimes a few dozen meters away. Devices connected seamlessly between these devices as well as legacy devices will be connected.
To increase the bandwidth, 5G cells also benefit from a technique known as massive MIMO (multiple inputs, multiple output). This allows hundreds of antennas to work in parallel, increasing speeds and helping to reduce latency to about milliseconds (about 30 ms in 4G) while allowing more devices to connect.
Finally, a technique called full duplex will also increase data capacity by allowing transmitters and devices to send and receive data at the same frequency. This is done using specialized circuits capable of ensuring that incoming and outgoing signals do not interfere with each other.
3. What are the security risks?
One of the biggest security problems in the 5G is simply how widely used.
The 5G will come to replace wired connections and open the door to many other devices that are connected and updated online, including home appliances and industrial machinery. Even self-driving cars, industrial robots, and hospital devices that rely on 5G bandwidth, will not be able to operate in case there is any damage or malfunction in this network
As with any entirely new technology, security vulnerabilities will surely emerge early. Researchers in Europe have already identified weaknesses in the way encryption keys are exchanged in 5G networks, for example. With many connected devices, the risk of data theft and sabotage - what people call cybersecurity - will be much higher.
Because the fifth generation is designed to be compatible with existing 4G, 3G, and Wi-Fi networks - in some cases using networked networks that completely interrupt central control of the network - existing security issues will also be transferred to new networks. The British company GCHQ has highlighted security issues related to Huawei technology, which may include 4G systems.
With the fifth generation, a layer of control software helps ensure seamless connectivity, virtualization, and new network features. The network operator may create a bank-specific 5G network, for example, and the bank can use network features to verify user identities.
However, this software layer will provide new ways for malicious network operator to hijack and process data. It may also open up new carriers for attack, while hardware errors may enable users to navigate between virtual networks, eavesdropping or stealing data as they do.
4. Can 5g be made safe?
These security concerns paint a bleak picture - but there are technical solutions to overcome them.
The precise use of encryption can help secure communications in a way that protects data as it flows through different systems and through virtual networks - to protect it from companies that own and manage devices. These encryption schemes can help protect against interference, intrusion, and piracy.
5. Why 5G of HUAWEI caused a lot of anxiety?
As the world's largest supplier of networking equipment and the second largest smartphone maker, Huawei is in a key position to grab the lion's share of the 5G market, which could reach $ 123 billion in five years by some estimates.
Stopping the expansion of the company in Western markets could have a convenient side effect of letting competitors catch up. But there are also legitimate security concerns surrounding the 5G - and reasons to believe it could be a problem for a company to control global cyberspace. Nor is it possible that Huawei would be able to use this spy infrastructure.
The US government seems to have decided it is too dangerous for a Chinese company to control a lot of 5G infrastructure.
The focus on Huawei is logical considering the importance of the fifth generation, the new challenges to security and complexity, and the fact that the Chinese company is about to be a big player. Given how Chinese companies are accountable to the government, Huawei's clear ties with the Chinese military and its cyber operations, and the tightening of relations between the private sector and the state, this seems legitimate.
But the ongoing battle with Huawei also shows how important new technology is to the future of global competition, economic strength and even international security.
