ABI Research: 5G-Advanced (not yet defined by ITU-R) will include AI/ML and network energy savings
Despite no work even started by ITU-R WP 5D (responsible for all IMT xG’s), global technology intelligence firm ABI Research expects that 75% of 5G base stations will be upgraded to 5G-Advanced by 2030, five years after the estimated commercial launch in 2025.
3GPP approved their Release-18 package in December 2021, making the official start of 5G-Advanced with the planned freeze date in December 2023.
But that really doesn’t mean much since Release-16 was frozen in June 2020, yet 2+ years later the spec for URLLC in the RAN has not been completed. As a result, neither 3GPP or ITU-R recommendation M.2150 (formerly IMT 2020) meets the ITU-R M.2410 performance requirements for URLLC use case. Also, less than 5% of deployed 5G networks are 5G SA with a 5G Core network, which is required for implementation of ALL 5G features, e.g. network slicing, security, automation, as well as MEC.
Some network operators like Verizon have already admitted that it could take up to a decade before they profit from their 5G investments.
ABI Research claims that 5G-Advanced will bring continuous enhancements to mobile network capabilities and use case-based support to help mobile operators with 5G commercialization, long-term development of Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML), and network energy savings for a fully automated network and a sustainable future.
“In 5G-Advanced, Extended Reality (XR) applications will promise monetary opportunities to both the consumer markets with use cases like gaming, video streaming, as well as enterprise opportunities such as remote working and virtual training. Therefore, XR applications are a major focus of 3GPP working groups to significantly improve XR-specific traffic performance and power consumption for the mass market adoption,” explains Gu Zhang, 5G & Mobile Network Infrastructure Principal Analyst at ABI Research. “Another noticeable feature is AI/ML which will become essential for future networks given the predictive rapid growth in 5G network usage and use case complexities which can’t be managed by legacy optimization approaches with presumed models. System-level network energy saving is also a critical aspect as operators need to reduce the deployment cost but assure network performance for various use cases.”
The upgrade of 5G network infrastructure is expected to be faster in the consumer market than in enterprises. ABI Research forecasts that 75% of 5G base stations will be upgraded to 5G-Advanced, while in the enterprise market the ratio is about half. 5G-Advanced devices per radio base station will quickly gain traction around 2024 to 2026 at the early stage of the commercial launch because devices will grow more aggressively than network deployments over the period.
“The commercial launch of 5G-Advanced will take two or three years, but the competition has already started, Zhang points out. “Taking AI/ML development as an example, industrial leaders such as Ericson, Huawei, Nokia, ZTE, and Qualcomm have trialed their solutions with mobile operators across the world. Ongoing development in this area will continue to bring improvements on traffic throughputs, network coverage, power saving, anomaly detection, etc.”
Different from previous generations, 5G creates an ecosystem for vertical markets such as automotive, energy, food and agriculture, city management, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and public transportation. “The influence on the domestic economy from the telco players will be more significant than before and that trend will continue for 5G-Advanced onward. Network operators and vendors should keep close to the regulators and make sure all parties involved grow together when the time-to-market arrives,” Zhang concludes.
These findings are from ABI Research’s 5G-Advanced and the Road to 6G application analysis report. This report is part of the company’s 5G & Mobile Network Infrastructure research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights. Application Analysis reports present in-depth analysis on key market trends and factors for a specific technology.
About ABI Research:
ABI Research is a global technology intelligence firm delivering actionable research and strategic guidance to technology leaders, innovators, and decision makers around the world. Our research focuses on the transformative technologies that are dramatically reshaping industries, economies, and workforces today.
References:
https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/analysis/5g-advanced-evolution-advances-abi-says/2022/07/
WOW now offers 1.2G bps download speeds in all markets it serves
WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone, a leading broadband services provider, today announced the launch of its 1.2 Gig high speed data tier in all markets it serves. This highest speed tier is available for all new WOW! residential customers and available as an upgrade for existing residential customers.
The new speed tier offers 1.2 G Mbps download speeds and 50 Mbps upload speeds to support even faster Internet capabilities for residential customers – for work, entertainment, connecting with friends and family, and more – enabling simultaneous streaming, instantaneous downloads, professional-level gaming, and frictionless livestreaming.
“As part of our dedication to bringing customers the fastest, most reliable broadband speeds available, we’re now able to offer our fastest speeds yet across our markets with 1.2 Gig service,” said Henry Hryckiewicz, chief technology officer for WOW!. “Our ability to offer these speeds is just the latest demonstration of the deep capabilities available with our robust fiber network. Our customers now have even more options for staying connected and we look forward to seeing them benefit from it.”
Ongoing effects from the pandemic have reinforced WOW!’s commitment to bring even faster speeds to customers. With changing dynamics for how we work, learn and play, consumers need a reliable internet connection, with 81 percent of adults saying they’ve used bandwidth-hungry video calls since the onset of the pandemic according to Pew Research Center.
Along with its blazing fast 1.2 Gig speeds, WOW! is offering a free modem for the duration that the customer is subscribed to the plan, unlimited data usage where applicable and a $5.00 AutoPay discount.
WOW! is one of the nation’s leading broadband providers, with an efficient, high-performing network that passes 1.9 million residential, business and wholesale consumers. WOW! provides services in 14 markets, primarily in the Midwest and Southeast, including Michigan, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia. With an expansive portfolio of advanced services, including high-speed Internet services, cable TV, phone, business data, voice, and cloud services, the company is dedicated to providing outstanding service at affordable prices. WOW! also serves as a leader in exceptional human resources practices, having been recognized eight times by the National Association for Business Resources as a Best & Brightest Company to Work For, winning the award for the last four consecutive years. SOURCE WideOpenWest, Inc. Please visit wowway.com or call 800-560-1824 for more information. Areas served by WOW:
References:
More KPN customers use fiber vs copper for broadband services in Nederlands
Dutch network operator KPN announced a new milestone on its fixed network: more customers are using fiber services than the old copper infrastructure for the first time. The disclosure was made in an internal announcement obtained by Telecompaper. KPN is seeing a steady increase in fiber orders in its consumer/residential market. The company said around 65% of orders are fiber and 35% for services on copper lines (DSL or POTs).
According to the Q1 Dutch Consumer Broadband report [1.], KPN had roughly the same number of residential DSL and fiber subscribers at the end of March, with just over 1.3 million lines each. While it has been adding fiber optic subscribers steadily each quarter, DSL losses remain slightly greater when including its second brand. The total consumer fixed broadband base has been flat (0% growth) over the past year.
Note 1. This Telecompaper report analyses developments in the first quarter of 2022 in the Dutch market for broadband internet access, focusing on consumer connections. The report further includes data on developments, fixed market revenues and broadband revenues. The findings are compared with results from previous periods. The analysis is based on Telecompaper’s continuous research into the development of the Dutch broadband communication services market. The focus is on cable network operators (Ziggo, Delta, Caiway), DSL providers (KPN, T-Mobile, Tele2, Online.nl, Budget Thuis) and FTTH providers (including KPN, T-Mobile, Caiway, Delta, Tele2, Online.nl, Budget Thuis).
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Babak Fouladi, KPN’s Chief Technology & Digital Officer and member of the Board of Management, spoke at the Telecom Insights 2022 conference in May. He said:
“Telecom networks are essential and vital, and we do not only literally ensure that the world remains connected to everything and everyone. Our networks also support massive digitization, essential in crisis situations since online access is often the only door to the outside world and contact with others. Our networks enable people to work from home, study online or continue doing business. In addition, the digital infrastructure contributes to the global economy and to keeping healthcare and education affordable. And our infrastructure makes a structural contribution to reducing CO2 emissions, the use of fossil fuels and cleaner air. Digitization is more and more important as accelerator for sustainability.”
He concluded his speech with an appeal to the Dutch telecom sector: “Let’s make the Netherlands the best connected country in the world! Let’s make it happen, together.”
References:
https://www.overons.kpn/nieuws/en/lets-make-the-netherlands-the-best-connected-country-in-the-world/
Swisscom tests 50G PON technology on a live network
State-owned network provider Swisscom has begun testing 50G PON technology in the live network of an unnamed Swiss municipality, after putting it through its paces in a laboratory in 2020 – the first telco in the world to do so, it claims. Swisscom believes 50G PON will lead to increased flexibility for its business customers, facilitating, for example, additional security features.
Swisscom claims that “50G-PON will lead to a new kind of flexibility in high-speed connectivity, chiefly for business customers, paving the way for additional security service features or connection service attributes. For example, the technology significantly reduces latency compared to today’s standards, and guaranteed transmission speeds can be defined by network slicing (NOTE: network slicing requires a 5G SA Core network and is not intended for fiber optics networks). These are just a few examples that, thanks to 50G-PON, can be included in considerations for new products and services aligned to business customer requirements in the coming years.”
Swisscom plans to introduce the technology by 2025 at the latest. PON technologies can be used in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint networks. The passive splitter is placed in a point-to-point network rather than in the cable conduit at the control center.
References:
https://www.swisscom.ch/en/about/news/2022/07/11-neuster-glasfasertechnologie.html
https://www.swisscom.ch/en/about/network.html
USTelecom Broadband Pricing Index (BPI): substantial price reductions for broadband access
While U.S. inflation in 2022 has soared to a 40+ year high (at 8.6% YoY), the price of broadband internet access is still falling and consumers are getting even more for less.
USTelecom’s latest analysis of the broadband marketplace: 2022 Broadband Pricing Index (BPI). This year’s report finds pricing for the most popular and highest-speed broadband internet services continues to decline while value continues to increase. The research compares prices over two time periods: the year-over-year price difference from 2021-2022; and a longer-term view of price changes between 2015 and 2022.
The third installment of the USTelecom Broadband Pricing Index (BPI) reveals continued substantial price reductions for both the most popular and highest-speed broadband internet services.
As in previous years, the BPI uses FCC and other public data sources to assess recent trends in residential fixed broadband pricing in the United States. The 2022 edition of the BPI compares prices over two time intervals:
- The price difference from 2021-2022
- A longer-term view in price changes between 2015 and 2022
In both cases, as in the past, the BPI creates an index that allows comparisons between the most popular speed tiers in each year (BPI-Consumer Choice) and the highest speed tiers in each year (BPI-Speed).
Key Findings of the Report:
Broadband Pricing Ran Counter to Significant Overall Inflation in the Past Year
- Real BPI-Consumer Choice broadband prices dropped by 14.7% from 2021-2022
- Real BPI-Speed broadband prices dropped by 11.6% from 2021-2022
- In contrast, the cost of overall goods and services rose by 8% from 2021-2022
Historical Broadband Pricing Analysis Shows Real Broadband Prices Have Been Cut in Half from Seven Years Ago
- Real BPI-Consumer Choice tier prices dropped by 44.6% from 2015-2022
- Real BPI-Speed tier prices dropped by 52.7% from 2015-2022
The Consumer Value of Broadband Service Has Never Been Higher
- Providers have increased the speeds of their broadband offerings. When combined with the price drops for that service, the overall value to customers (measured on a dollars/megabit basis) shows a dramatic improvement over the past seven years.
- The real cost per megabit of both the most popular and fastest service offerings have dropped by around 75% since 2015. This gives the consumers a boost in their wallet and in their daily online performance.
References:
https://ustelecom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/USTelecom-Broadband-Pricing-Report2022.pdf
Rogers Telecommunications restores service after 19 hour outage disrupting life in Canada
Rogers Communications Inc. said its network was beginning to recover late on Friday after a 19-hour service outage at one of Canada’s biggest telecom operators shut banking, transport and government access for millions, drawing outrage from customers and adding to criticism over its industry dominance.
The outage shut down internet access, cell phone and landline phone connections. Some callers could not reach emergency services via 911 calls, police across Canada said. The disruption also prompted a health-care network in Toronto to ask physicians who were on call Friday to “physically come into the hospital for the shift.”
The total communications blackout was Rogers’ second in 15 months. It began around 4:30 a.m. ET (0830 GMT) and knocked out a quarter of Canada’s observable internet connectivity, said the NetBlocks monitoring group.
Canadians crowded into cafes and public libraries that still had internet access and hovered outside hotels to catch a signal. Canada’s border services agency said the outage affected its mobile app for incoming travelers. Retailers’ cashless pay systems went down; banks reported issues with ATM services.
Rogers (RCIb.TO) said in a statement on Twitter that “our wireless services are starting to recover” and workers are trying to get people back online as quickly as possible.
In a separate statement on its website, Rogers President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Staffieri apologized for the outage, saying: “Today we let you down. We can and will do better.”
We know you count on Rogers to connect you to emergency services, make payments, serve your customers, connect with work and keep in touch with friends and family. We take that responsibility very seriously and today we let you down. We can and will do better.
As you know, we experienced a network outage across both wireless and wireline service that began early this morning.
We have made meaningful progress towards bringing our networks back online and many of our wireless customers are starting to see services return. We don’t yet have an ETA on when our networks will be fully restored but we will continue to share information with our customers as we restore full service.
We know going a full day without connectivity has real impacts on our customers, and all Canadians. On behalf of all of us here at Rogers, Rogers for Business, Fido, chatr and cityfone, I want to sincerely apologize for this service interruption and the impact it is having on people from coast to coast to coast.
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/business/2022/01/10/rogers-appoints-staffieri-as-permanent-president-and-chief-executive/20220110170136-61dcb5032f80394f86a7b837jpeg.jpg)
Staffieri explained that the company doesn’t have a timeline on when the networks will be fully restored, “but we will continue to share information with our customers as we restore full services.” He said a credit would be applied to affected customers.
A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Friday evening that the outage was not the result of a cyber attack.
Cloudflare Inc., a global cloud-services provider, said Friday its analysis indicated the outage was due to an internal error at Rogers as the telecommunications company apparently tried to upgrade certain equipment that helps internet data flow through networks. A similar mistake hit Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in the fall of last year, triggering an outage that lasted about six hours.
The disruption also made transport and flight bookings more difficult at the height of the summer travel season. Transport Canada has not received reports of direct safety or security impacts to any flights, marine or rail services as part of this outage, according to spokesperson Sau Liu.
With about 10 million wireless subscribers and 2.25 million retail internet subscribers, Rogers is the top provider in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and home to its biggest city, Toronto. Rogers, BCE Inc (BCE.TO) and Telus Corp (T.TO) control 90% of the market share in Canada.
Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne in a tweet called the situation “unacceptable” and said he was in communication with telecom CEOs, including those from Rogers, Bell and Telus, to find a solution.
Canadian financial institutions and banks, including Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) and Bank Of Montreal (BMO.TO), said the outage disrupted services. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) said its ATMs and online banking services were affected.
A spokesperson for Vancouver International airport, among Canada’s busiest, said travelers could not pay for parking, use terminal ATMs or purchase items at airport retailers.
Air Canada (AC.TO), the country’s largest airline, said its call center had been affected. Airlines in Canada, like those in Europe and the United States, have been experiencing high call volume amid flight cancellations and delays due to pandemic staffing shortages.
Critics said the outage demonstrated a need for more competition in telecom for Canada.
Earlier this year, Canada’s competition bureau blocked Rogers’ attempt to take over rival Shaw Communications (SJRb.TO) in a C$20 billion deal, saying it would hamper competition in a country where telecom rates are some of the world’s highest. The merger still awaits a final verdict. read more
“Today’s outage illustrates the need for more independent competition that will drive more network investment so outages are far less likely,” said Anthony Lacavera, managing director of Globealive, an investment firm that had bid for a wireless provider involved in the Rogers/Shaw deal.
On Friday, some government agencies canceled services after losing internet access, including Canada’s passport offices and the telecoms regulator. The Canada Revenue Agency, the country’s tax collection body, lost telephone service.
In downtown Ottawa, Canada’s capital, cafes including Tim Hortons were not accepting debit and credit cards and were turning away customers who did not have cash.
Michelle Wasylyshen, spokeswoman for the Retail Council of Canada, said outages would vary from one retailer to the next: “Cash will most certainly be king at many stores today.”
While the disruptions were widespread, several companies and transport points said their services were unaffected. The Port of Montreal reported no disruptions. The Calgary Airport Authority said it had “no major operational impacts.”
References:
Adani Group planning to enter India’s long delayed 5G spectrum auction
Indian conglomerate Adani Group [1.] is believed to be one of the four companies that (on Friday July 8th) has showed interest in the Indian government’s long delayed 5G spectrum auction. The move would expand the conglomerate’s presence to a sector dominated by established wireless telcos – Reliance Jio, Sunil Mittal-controlled Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea Ltd.
India’s telecom department’s upcoming auction includes the coveted 5G band needed for high-speed wireless internet connectivity.
Note 1. Adani Group is a diversified organization in India with market cap of over $182.02 billion (as of July 8, 2022) composed of 7 publicly traded companies. It has created a world class transport and utility infrastructure portfolio that has a pan-India presence. Adani Group is headquartered in Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, India. Over the years, Adani Group has positioned itself to be the market leader in its transport logistics and energy utility portfolio businesses focusing on large scale infrastructure development in India with O & M practices benchmarked to global standards. With four IG rated businesses, it is the only Infrastructure Investment Grade issuer in India.
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Four independent sources told Business Standard that the Adani Group was interested in getting into telecom where it has no experience whatsoever.
Under India’s telecom regulations, the Adani entity would require a unified access service (UAS) permit from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to participate in the 5G airwaves auction.
The four telecom bidders would first have to provide ownership details by July 12th and later a bidder-ownership compliance certificate. After that, there will be a pre-qualification of bidders. Companies will have the right to withdraw auction applications by July 19 and bidders will be announced the next day. The auction is expected to begin on July 27.
Experts are divided about the possible strategy of the Gautam Adani-led Adani group. Some say it is investing heavily in data centres, with a view to making it an enterprise business. It has tied up with international company EdgeConnex for a 50-50 joint venture to build and operate large data centres in Chennai, Navi Mumbai, Noida, Vizag, and Hyderabad.
Adani’s enterprise data business will compete with Indian telecom companies and international tech giants like Amazon and Google. It would be a smart move to buy a limited quantity of millimetre band spectrum — it offers high speed and is relatively cheap – and support it by a small amount of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band.
Other experts believe the Adani group might be planning to enter into 5G services and compete with established companies before likely acquiring or collaborating with an existing player.
News agency PTI, while quoting unnamed sources, reported that Adani was the fourth applicant in the telecom auction and had obtained National Long Distance (NLD) and International Long Distance (ILD) licences.
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Image Credit: Adani Group
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References:
India’s 5G auction delayed again to April-May 2022 – Credibility Gap?
South Korea has 24 million 5G subscribers and over 200K 5G base stations
South Korea was the first country to launch commercial 5G networks in April 2019 and currently has 5G coverage across its 85 cities. 5G subscribers in South Korea are now nearly 24 million as of May 2022, Korean press reported, citing data from the Ministry of Science and ICT.
According to previous reports, the number of 5G users in the country has been increasing in recent months due to the launch of new smartphones including Apple’s new iPhone 13 series.
SK Telecom, the country’s largest mobile operator by subscriptions, ended May with 11.4 million 5G subscribers, followed by KT with 7.3 million and LG Uplus with 5.2 million, according to the report. South Korean telcos expect 5G subscriptions will grow even faster when cheaper data plans are launched, possibly in the third quarter, per the government’s drive to ease the phone bill payment burden for households.
The number of 4G subscribers in South Korea reached 47 million as of the end of May. Also, mobile virtual network operators in the Asian nation had a combined 83,256 users as of the end of the month.
South Korean telecom operators currently provide 5G services via Non-Standalone (NSA) 5G networks, which depend on previous 4G LTE networks.
Korean mobile operators have deployed a total of 202,903 5G base stations as of the end of February, according to previous reports. This figure is equivalent to 23% of total 4G LTE base stations installed in South Korea.
In June 2018, the ICT ministry completed an auction for 5G frequencies in which local carriers SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus secured spectrum to launch 5G services in the Asian nation.
SK Telecom and KT each won 100 megahertz in the 3.5 GHz band while LG Uplus had obtained a bloc of 80 megahertz of spectrum.
In February, the government of South Korea has postponed an auction to award additional 5G spectrum as local mobile operators SK Telecom and KT have complained about the process.
In December of 2021, South Korea’s Science and ICT ministry had said it would open bidding for additional 5G networks in the 3.4-3.42 GHz spectrum, as requested by LG Uplus, the country’s smallest mobile operator.
However, SK Telecom and KT have complained about the ministry’s decision, as they claim that LG Uplus is at a relative advantage as the spectrum it had requested is closest to its current frequencies and will cost considerably less for LG Uplus to utilize it.
According to a recent report by the GSMA, 5G connections accounted for 33% of total mobile connections in South Korea last year, while this technology will represent 73% of total connections in 2025.
References:
https://pulsenews.co.kr/view.php?sc=30800028&year=2022&no=587517
Ericsson and Orange Spain in 5G VR trial at Madrid’s Mad Cool festival
Orange Spain is the official sponsor of the Madrid’s Mad Cool festival (July 6-10 ), which will see 60,000 daily fans enjoying performances from dozens of rock, pop and Indie stars, including headline acts such as Metallica, Imagine Dragons, Muse, the Killers, Florence + the Machine, the Pixies, and Jack White.
To make the unique immersive reality experience possible, Ericsson and Orange Spain are using 5G connectivity with virtual reality (VR) glasses that collect real-time images captured by three panoramic cameras strategically located on the stage.
The images are projected on a video wall at an Orange Spain company stand at the festival site. Stand visitors can use VR glasses to interact with the projections, allowing fans to enjoy the festival as if they are actually on stage with the artists.
Photo courtesy of Orange Spain
Ericsson’s indoor solution, the Ericsson Radio Dot System, is providing dedicated 5G coverage during the Mad Cool Festival. The solution, which is based on multi-band small cell technology, ensures seamless connectivity to the VR glasses despite high volumes of data traffic on site.
In addition, all fans with Orange 5G subscriptions attending the festival can benefit from improved connectivity across the venue. Four mid-band TDD (Time Division Duplex) 5G macro cells, using Ericsson Antenna-Integrated Radio (AIR) technology, are providing seamless mobility user experiences for all attendees who connect to Orange’s mobile network during the event.
Sonia Rico, Director of Brand, Communication and Sponsorships, Orange Spain, says:” This is the first musical event sponsored by Orange. Following a hiatus due to COVID-19, we want to celebrate the return of Mad Cool by guaranteeing the best connectivity, for both the public and the organizers, through our state-of-the-art 5G and fiber networks. In addition, thanks to virtual reality, we can offer a unique experience to attendees – the union of digital and human – which we hope will be unforgettable.”
Iván Rejón, Director of Marketing and Communication, Ericsson Iberia, says:” Technology is reimagining the future of the culture and entertainment industry. The use of 5G and the technologies it enables, such as virtual or mixed reality, opens the doors to inexhaustible possibilities. Thanks to Orange’s 5G network and Ericsson’s 5G technology, connectivity enabling festival goers to enjoy a more immersive experience – placing them at the center of the action.”
https://www.ericsson.com/en/news/2022/7/ericsson-and-orange-spain-5g-put-festival-fans-on-stage
FBI and MI5 Chiefs Issue Joint Warning: Chinese Cyber Espionage on Tech & Telecom Firms
Chinese government-backed hackers have attacked major telecom businesses throughout the world in a cyber-espionage effort that has lasted at least two years and has successfully compromised at least 13 telecommunications groups.
In a recent advisory, the FBI, NSA and CISA stated that hackers linked to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had targeted and hacked major telecommunications businesses by exploiting simple and well-known network and system vulnerabilities.
According to the report, Chinese espionage is often initiated with hackers surveying target networks and exploring the manufacturers, models, versions, and known vulnerabilities of routers and networking equipment using open-source scanning tools such as RouterSploit and RouterScan. The Chinese government consistently disputes charges of hacking.
The heads of the FBI and Britain’s domestic security service have just issued sharply worded warnings to business leaders about the threats posed by Chinese espionage, especially spying aimed at stealing Western technology companies’ intellectual property.
In a rare joint appearance on Wednesday July 6th at the headquarters of MI5 in the UK, Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Ken McCallum, director-general of MI5, urged executives not to underestimate the scale and sophistication of Beijing’s campaign.
“The Chinese government is set on stealing your technology—whatever it is that makes your industry tick—and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market,” Mr. Wray told the audience of business people.
“They’re set on using every tool at their disposal to do it.” China uses state-sponsored hacking on a large scale, along with a global network of intelligence operatives in its quest to gain access to technology it considers important, Messrs. Wray and McCallum said.
“The Chinese government poses an even more serious threat to Western businesses than even many sophisticated business people realize,” Mr. Wray added.
PHOTO CREDIT: DOMINIC LIPINSKI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“We want to send the clearest signal we can on a massive shared challenge—China,” Mr. Wray said in his appearance with his U.K. counterpart. Tackling the threat is essential, he said, “if we are to protect our economies, our institutions and our democratic values.”
“The most game-changing challenge we face comes from the Chinese Communist Party,” Mr. McCallum said. “It’s covertly applying pressure across the globe. This might feel abstract, but it is real and it is pressing.”
China is engaged in “a coordinated campaign on a grand scale” that represents “a strategic contest across decades,” Mr. McCallum said. “We need to act.”
While American law enforcement and intelligence officials have been warning about the problem for years, it is a far more recent phenomenon for British security officials, who until last year made few public comments about the Chinese threat.
MI5 is running seven times more investigations involving Chinese espionage than it did in 2018, and plans to double the current number in the coming years, Mr. McCallum said.
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The statement from the American security agencies did not name the victims of the hacking, nor did it specify the extent of the damage. However, US authorities did list specific networking equipment, such as routers and switches, that Chinese hackers are suspected of routinely targeting, exploiting serious and well-known flaws that basically gave the attackers full control over their targets.
Cisco, Citrix, Fortinet and Netgear equipment were among the most often attacked devices. Cisco and Netgear, according to the warning, have already published software updates for the majority of the identified vulnerabilities. The organizations recommended that operators take certain actions to minimize possible threats in addition to applying available patches and system upgrades. These include removing or isolating suspected compromised devices as soon as possible, segmenting the network to limit or prevent lateral movement, disabling unused or unnecessary network services, ports, protocols, and devices, and requiring multi-factor authentication for all users, including those connected via a VPN.
For intelligence organizations, telecommunications companies are particularly valuable targets. These service providers develop and operate the majority of the Internet’s infrastructure, as well as numerous private networks throughout the world. Successfully hacking of these networks can open the door to an even larger universe of valuable surveillance opportunities.
References:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/heads-of-fbi-mi5-issue-joint-warning-on-chinese-spying-11657123280
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/06/world/asia/fbi-china-taiwan-sanctions.html