Cybersecurity is very important to all of us, because we’re living in an era where information and data are our most valuable asset. That’s why we’re so focused on data privacy and personal information. Cyberattacks are a potential threat to everyone, with viruses and phishing able to target individuals’ mobile devices, companies, and governments. So it’s crucial for us to focus on developing and producing secure technologies.
A New Approach to Cybersecurity and National Security
Information security is like an onion in that it has multiple layers. People assume that technology is everything, but it is only one layer and perhaps the easiest one, People tend to overlook that ecosystem ownerships, patents, regulations, laws, directives, cyber strategies, processes, standard operating procedures, best practices, and cyber diplomacy are equally important. And sometimes even more challenging.
Huawei’s goal is to provide a fresh approach to cybersecurity and national digital sovereignty. We comply with national legislations and take an extremely responsible attitude to the legal context of security, something we believe that every 5G network vendor has a responsibility to do.
Huawei’s 5G networking equipment allows nations to use their own encryption algorithms, the encryption keys of which are not available to Huawei, outsiders, or other governments – only local mobile operators are allowed to perform decryption when legally required to do so. Thus they don’t not have access to data which is flowing through their equipment. Central our strategy is to support the national data sovereignty of every country.
The Importance of Standards in Cybersecurity
Huawei is a strong advocate for cybersecurity standards that are globally recognized and agreed upon. They believe that trust needs to be based on facts, facts need to be verifiable, and verification needs to be based on common standards. Based on industry practices, certification is the most effective way to address security issues. Certification is verification that everyone reads standards in the same way and it therefore guarantees interoperability. That means that different vendor’s equipment can work seamlessly together.
5G Security Challenges
5G faces security challenges due to new services, architectures, and technologies, as well as higher user privacy and protection requirements. However, 5G is the most secure telecommunications standard that the industry has developed to date.
The assets of wireless and core networks, computing resources, accounts, passwords, logs, configurations, and charging data records (CDRs) are operated and maintained by operators, not equipment’s vendors. Hackers attack wireless networks in an attempt to steal and tamper with users’ personal data or compromise the availability of networks or computing resources. The way in which equipment vendors work together with operators to make this more difficult for hackers is by implementing 3GPP specifications.