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Huawei 5G kit must be removed from UK by 2027

(www.bbc.com)
293 points doener | 2 comments | 14 Jul 20 12:06 UTC | HN request time: 0.406s | source
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rich_sasha ◴[14 Jul 20 12:42 UTC] No.23831166[source]▶
If this is just Realpolitik/hardware independence, fine, but security..?

Any worthwhile Internet traffic should be encrypted in 2020, and if it isn’t, Huawei probably isn’t the most immediate concern.

And if it is encrypted, does it really matter who is listening?

Comments welcome, I know zilch about telecoms hardware.

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totalZero ◴[14 Jul 20 13:07 UTC] No.23831435[source]▶
You're missing one of the largest risk vectors in the whole 5G game.

5G operates on higher frequency and requires a larger density of base stations. If you can identify individual devices -- even without cracking the encryption they use -- then you can track them them geographically, and also conduct traffic analysis.

5G presents a potential security risk because it allows far greater granularity of device localization, even without GPS.

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opless ◴[14 Jul 20 21:15 UTC] No.23837999[source]▶
> 5G operates on higher frequency and requires a larger density of base stations

No that’s not required, 5G uses the same old frequencies as 2/3/4G for the bulk of the traffic, it only uses the >1Ghz frequencies for microcells in malls and other dense areas where appropriate.

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1. mattmanser ◴[14 Jul 20 22:20 UTC] No.23838748[source]▶
I assume in order to be able to decide to serve those 1Ghz frequencies, all the phones are going to ping the local towers regardless, so it doesn't matter.
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2. opless ◴[15 Jul 20 00:44 UTC] No.23839934[source]▶
That'll no doubt be down to the configuration of the terminal device. It'll likely only TX on the available bands allowed in the devices home region for licensing/compliance issues.

Back on the tracking side of things...

AFAIKR 3G and above do not leak their IMEI/IMSI unencrypted. Of course nearly zero phones show or warn if encryption is used or not (though I think that's a setting in the SIM card).