Security Officials Warn of 5G Supply Chain Vulnerabilities

Homeland security officials have stressed the importance of supply chain security amid the federal government’s increasing adoption of 5G-enabled technologies. 

Serena Reynolds, leader of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s 5G initiatives, said the government and its contractors should educate themselves on the dangers of untrusted vendors, GovernmentCIO Media & Research reported.

One official at the Customs and Border Protection said the agency is working to strike a balance between security and network mobility in its adoption of 5G.

Christopher Wurst, CBP’s executive director for enterprise networks and technology support, said network security is critical to the agency’s plan of requiring field agents to carry body cameras.

“The network is now a vital utility that cannot be overlooked. Your application can be up and running all day long, but if your network is down, it doesn’t matter,” Wurst said during an FCW event on network modernization.

Wurst said he hopes 5G can handle the amount of data transmitted by always-on body cameras. He added that CBP’s strategy involves shifting the processing burden to edge devices.

Senior CISA analyst Ryan Orr said the first few years of the 5G deployment will be the most precarious as users will still need to rely on legacy 4G infrastructure.

Despite the novelty of 5G, federal civilian and defense agencies are already working with the private sector to implement the technology across entire business processes.

The Department of Defense recently tasked GE Research to create 5G-enabled smart warehouses at the Naval Base San Diego in California and Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in Georgia.

DOD also worked with satellite infrastructure operator Omnispace to demonstrate an initial 5G-via-satellite capability. The test was performed in collaboration with LinQuest, the National Security Innovation Network, the Navy and the Marine Corps.