Government intervention for 5G is a must

Dr. Harold D’Costa, President, Cyber Security Corporation

The world in general is becoming smaller, thanks to the fast pace of communication. The needs of the common person and the society at large is becoming increasingly dependent on the influx of communication technology. The global data traffic is expected to have a huge turnaround and is expected to multiply by five before the end of 2024. The present 4G networks simply lacks the tenacity to work in huge dense urban areas, thereby giving rise to 5G networks.

The evolution of 5G has taken place in the following way:

•         1G: Mobile voice calls
•         2G: Mobile voice calls and SMS
•         3G: Mobile web browsing
•         4G: Mobile video consumption and higher data speed
•         5G: Technology to serve consumers and digitization of industries

The commercialization of 5G networks shall bring better experiences for smartphone users, fixed wireless access, providing fiber speeds without fiber to homes. Able to download a full length HD movie in seconds and share tweets to friends, relatives instantly. Most business, industries, towns, regions, cities shall be connected to make it smarter and sustainable. The evolution of 5G will enable 10 times lower cost per gigabyte than current 4G networks. It has the potential for changing the world, further powering the recent trends in tech today: IoT (Internet of Things), AI (Artificial Intelligence) and AR (Augmented Reality) – among many more.

The advantages of 5G has also posed security concerns beyond the borders of the world and will require a serious intervention by the Government. The countries in the 5G components space, shall play a negative dent that could entice the investment of poor and smaller countries and also gain substantial negative influence in smaller nations.

The constant security updates eventually leading to malware being injected in the behest of a nation can serious jeopardize and invade the privacy of the user, also corporate espionage may lead into huge revenue loss causing economic slowdown and a further recession. The fundamental problem for smaller and unorganized nations shall be the flow of data. It is very important for a nation to know where their data is flowing to, specifically what country. The IT laws prevailing in India is not conducive for the 5G networks. Given the ramifications and the cyber awareness least in the world, it can pose a serious question in territorial and cross boundary jurisdiction along with ethnic and social obligations. The law enforcement and the judicial system has to work in tandem to ensure that the introduction of 5G networks is smooth without making the life of the common person more vulnerable.

Here is what the Government can do -

•         Amend the IT Act 2000
•         Have a data privacy policy in place
•         Fix up stringent rules and regulations on the intermediaries and make them accountable
•         Create a disaster recovery team
•         Create awareness among the users about cyber security breaches and preventive measures
•         Empower law enforcement agencies with modern tools
•         Cyber courts to be introduced in all states