Osman Zakaria
Data Analisis Cyberhous
ONE of the biggest debates on the application of 5G technology around the world is the question of safety and security within the nation and how far does the application of 5G affect the data collected by the technology.
Concerns have grown for China’s companies, as they are bound by the strict legislation of China that allows the government to not only “spy” on countries that have their technology in their country but also allows China to use that information for their own benefit.
This therefore beckons the question, how safe is it for countries to actually use their 5G technology in their country?
Under Article 7 National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China compels all Chinese organizations to support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence efforts in accordance with law and shall protect national intelligence work secrets they are aware of[1].
This would mean that Chinese companies can be forced by the Chinese government to hand over all data collected by their network for any national intelligence activities and claim the data for their own.
With this in mind, there are many concerns on how safe the data collected by the technology’s 5G network is, especially with the large presence of their technology in many countries around the world.
Even some companies themselves admit that there is an obligation for the company to work with the Chinese government for the purpose of national intelligence [2].
The application of 5G goes far and beyond fast connectivity through phones and smart devices. 5G connectivity goes in depth into the usage of the technology for national assets, national industries as well as public data based on the usage of the technology in the country.
This creates a clear and present danger of having this data extracted forcefully by the Chinese government to monitor their competitors, especially with the nation’s aspiration of becoming the next global superpower in the future.
National data using Chinese 5G technology is no longer safe, despite the fact that there is no request for the Chinese government to use their technology to spy on other countries [3], as of yet.
It is little wonder that countries such as the United States, United Kingdom and Canada have now taken necessary steps to stop Huawei, for example, from being involved in their respective countries’ network [4] especially with cases of “backdoor applications” present in Huawei’s past technologies.
Malaysia must not fall into the same trap that was faced by the above-mentioned countries with the application of our own 5G network in the country.
Data security and secret information regarding Malaysia’s assets, interests and activities cannot be compromised by technologies that could serve a potential threat to the security of our assets, especially assets that have great interest to foreign organizations to have some form of control to.
Malaysia must not allow technologies that can be manipulated by other foreign organizations and must ensure the safety and security of our assets from being accessed through the application of 5G in our countries.
The last thing we want to happen is to see our secrets being bartered around by those who have the power to do so. – Malaysiapost
[1] Wikipedia, “National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Intelligence_Law_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China#:~:text=Article%207%3A%20All%20organizations%20and,secrets%20they%20are%20aware%20of.
[2] Euractive, 11 April 2019, “Huawei admit Chinese law obliges companies to work with government, under conditions” https://www.euractiv.com/section/cybersecurity/news/huawei-admit-chinese-law-obliges-companies-to-work-with-government/
[3] Wired, 4 March 2019, “Law Expert: Chinese Government Can’t Force Huawei to Make Backdoors” https://www.wired.com/story/law-expert-chinese-government-cant-force-huawei-make-backdoors/
[4] China Daily, 16 October 2022, “Attack on Huawei shows Washington real creator of risks and vulnerabilities: China Daily editorial” https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202210/16/WS634bfd39a310fd2b29e7cccc.html