MPs have warned that the rollout of 5G will open UK up to security risks, according to a new report from the Commons Defence Select Committee. The committee said there would be a “greater surface for illicit actions”, as more devices are connected to the internet with the new wireless technology. In the report on the security of 5G, the committee said the Government’s ambitions for the rollout are “laudable” – but warned the vendor market for 5G kit is not diverse enough. This follows the July decision to ban Huawei from having a role in the country’s 5G network and subsequent request for British telecoms companies 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.
The committee called on the Government to work with allies to formulate a system to provide accountability for perpetrators of international cyber-attacks. It backed the proposal to form a “D10 alliance” of the world’s 10 largest democracies to provide alternatives to Chinese technology.
5G has the potential to enable even more highly sophisticated attacks than those we are already seeing, so businesses must be prepared for a possible influx. 5G offers an impressive platform that we haven’t seen before, yet we know it will deliver high volumes of data in quick succession. Should threat actors choose to use this new conveyance, we must remain protected. We have time to get ready and all our resources should be in place for what could be seen as an inevitable increase in multiple, highly impactful attacks.