You, Me, and 5G: Separating Fact from Fiction
These days just about everyone has access to a cell phone. We use them all day, every day, and luckily we don’t have to spend much time thinking and worrying about the technology under the hood that’s making them work. As I find myself nearing the end of my structured technology education, I think it’s worth taking a closer look at the new kid on the block, 5G. What exactly is it? How is it different from its’ predecessors? And more importantly, is there any cause for concern around its’ usage?
5G stands for the fifth-generation of wireless technology. While most generations have been defined by their data transmission speeds, each has also been marked by a break in encoding methods, or “air interfaces,” that make it incompatible with the previous generation. 1G was analog cellular (introduced in 1979 and continued to mid-1980's). 2G technologies, such as CDMA, GSM, and TDMA, were the first generation of digital cellular technologies. 3G technologies brought speeds up significantly, and 4G technologies, such as WiMAX and LTE, were the next incompatible leap forward.
5G brings three new aspects to the table: greater speed (to move more data), lower latency (to be more responsive), and the ability to connect a lot more devices at once (for sensors and smart devices…hello IoT!).
5G primarily runs in two kinds of airwaves: below and above 6GHz. Low-frequency 5G networks, which use existing cellular and Wi-Fi bands, take advantage of more flexible encoding and bigger channel sizes to achieve speeds 25 to 50 percent better than LTE. Rural networks will likely stick with low-band 5G, because low-frequency bands have great range from towers.
To get really high, multi-gigabit speeds, carriers are turning to much higher frequencies, known as millimeter-wave. Those bands have been used before, but they haven’t previously been used for consumer devices. Millimeter-wave signals drop off faster with distance than lower-frequency signals do, and the massive amount of data they transfer will require more connections to landline internet. So cellular providers will have to use many smaller, lower-power base stations rather than fewer, more powerful macrocells to offer the multi-gigabit speeds that millimeter-wave networks promise.
Fortunately for them, the carriers have already installed those “small cells” in many major cities to increase capacity during the 4G era. In those cities, they just need to bolt an extra radio onto the existing site to make it 5G. There’s a struggle going on elsewhere, though, where carriers are having trouble convincing towns to let them add small cells to suburban neighborhoods.
5G networks use a type of encoding called OFDM, which is similar to the encoding that 4G LTE uses, but the 5G radio system can get about 30 percent better speeds thanks to more efficient encoding. 5G networks need to be much smarter than previous systems, as they’re juggling many more, smaller cells that can change size and shape.
So, you might be thinking, “What’s the problem? This sounds great!” If that’s what you’re thinking, then apparently you have missed all of the articles on Facebook and alternative health websites. They assert that 5G is a dangerous escalation of traditional cellular technology, and that it’s packed with higher energy radiation with potentially damaging effects on human beings. Some 5G critics contend that the new technology generates radio-frequency radiation (RFR) that can damage DNA and lead to cancer; cause oxidative damage leading to premature aging; disrupt cellular metabolism; and potentially lead to other diseases through the generation of stress proteins. Some of these articles even cite research studies and opinions by reputable organizations like the World Health Organization.
Scientists say that the most important criteria about whether any particular RFR is dangerous is whether it falls into the category of ionizing or non-ionizing radiation. Any radiation that’s non-ionizing is too weak to break chemical bonds. That includes ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, and everything with a lower frequency, like radio waves. Everyday technologies like power lines, FM radio, and Wi-Fi also fall into this range. (Microwaves are the one exception: non-ionizing but able to damage tissue, they’re precisely and intentionally tuned to resonate with water molecules.) Frequencies above UV, like x-rays and gamma rays, are ionizing.
Dr. Steve Novella, an assistant professor of neurology at Yale and the editor of Science-Based Medicine, understands that people get concerned about radiation, but Novella says that most concern about cell phone RFR is misplaced. “There’s no known mechanism for most forms of non-ionizing radiation to even have a biological effect,” he says. Of course, just because there’s no known mechanism for non-ionizing radiation to have a biological effect, that doesn’t’ mean it’s safe or that no effect exists, so researchers continue to conduct studies. One recent study was released by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), an agency run by the Department of Health and Human Services. In this widely quoted study about cell phone radio frequency radiation, scientists found that high exposure to 3G RFR led to some cases of cancerous heart tumors, brain tumors, and tumors in the adrenal glands of male rats.
Another common complaint about 5G is that, due to the lower power of 5G transmitters, there will be more of them. The Environmental Health Trust contends that “5G will require the buildout of literally hundreds of thousands of new wireless antennas in neighborhoods, cities, and towns. A cellular small cell or another transmitter will be placed every two to ten homes according to estimates.”
It’s easy to find this and other claims online that the greater frequency of 5G alone constitutes a risk, but asserting that the higher frequency is more dangerous is just that — an assertion, and there’s little real science to stand behind it. 5G remains non-ionizing in nature. Scientists will continue to test new networks as technology evolves, to make sure the technology we use remains safe.
One country seems to be at the forefront of the 5G debate, and that’s Switzerland. Health fears over 5G radiation from the antennas have led to widespread protests and a nationwide revolt has begun in the country over the next-generation of mobile technology. A growing number of Swiss are voicing alarm at possible health effects from exposure to the electromagnetic rays, and are threatening to put the issue to a referendum in the country famous for its direct democratic system. In Geneva, it is Daniel Buchs, a doctor and a regional parliamentarian with the centrist Christian Democratic Party, who is leading the battle.
‘We are waiting for a serious, independent study that shows whether, yes or no, 5G has a noxious effect for the population,’ he said. Such a study, he insisted, could help avoid a health scandal similar to the one the world has seen with asbestos, which was long touted as safe but which today is known to kill at least 107,000 people around the world each year. There are already several studies underway, including one by the World Health Organization.
So if the jury is still out on the potential health impacts , is there anything else to be concerned about as it relates to 5G? Oh yes, absolutely!
5G was supposed to offer new protections against so-called stingray surveillance devices. Also called “IMSI catchers” after the international mobile subscriber identity number attached to every cell phone, stingrays masquerade as legitimate cell towers. Once they trick a device into connecting to it, a stingray uses the IMSI or other identifiers to track the device, and even listen in on phone calls.
“One good thing in 5G is it was developed to fix the issues that allow fake base station attacks,” says Ravishankar Borgaonkar, a research scientist at the Norwegian tech analysis firm SINTEF Digital. “The idea is that in 5G, stealing IMSI and IMEI device identification numbers will not be possible anymore for identifying and tracking attacks. But we found that actually 5G does not give the full protection against these fake base station attacks.”
One of the 5G network’s main improvements to evade stingrays is a more comprehensive scheme for encrypting device data, so that it doesn’t fly around in an easily readable, plaintext format. But the researchers found enough lapses in this setup to sneak a pair of 5G stingray attacks through. This is where the developer in me gets miffed! Come on people!
When a device “registers” with a new cell tower to get connectivity, it transmits certain identifying data about itself. As with the current 4G standard, 5G doesn’t encrypt that data. As a result, the researchers found that they could collect this information with a stingray, and potentially use it to identify and track devices in a given area. The researchers found that they could use that unencrypted data to determine things like which devices are smartphones, tablets, cars, vending machines, sensors, and so on. They can identify a device’s manufacturer, the hardware components inside it, its specific model and operating system, and even what specific operating system version an iOS device is running. That information could allow attackers to identify and locate devices, particularly in a situation where they already have a target in mind. But it doesn’t end there…
It turns out that the same exposure that leaks details about a device also creates the opportunity for a man-in-the-middle, like a stingray, to manipulate that data. The telecom industry divides types of devices are divided into categories from 1 to 12 based on how sophisticated and complex they are; something like a smartphone is a 12, while simplistic Internet of Things devices might be a 1 or 2. One purpose of that categorization is to signal which data network a device should connect to. More complex, higher-category devices look for the 5G or 4G network, but low-category devices only accept 2G or 3G connections, because they don’t need faster speeds.
The researchers found that they could use their first stingray attack to modify a device’s stated category number during the connection process, downgrading it to an older network. At this point, older stingray attacks would apply, and a hacker could move forward with communication surveillance or more specific location tracking. If the system were set up to launch its data encryption and other security protections earlier in the connection process, the attack would be moot. But carriers are mostly leaving this data in the clear and at risk for manipulation. Out of 30 carriers the researchers evaluated in Europe, Asia, and North America, 21 offered connections that were vulnerable to downgrading attacks. Only nine elected to build their systems for launching security protections earlier in the connection process. The technology has also been swept up in the deepening trade war between China and the United States, which has tried to rein in Chinese giant Huawei — the world’s leader in superfast 5G equipment — over fears it will allow Beijing to spy on communications from countries that use its products and services.
There is so much still to learn about the future of 5G technology. As a junior developer, I like to focus on the technical aspects as opposed to the health concerns, because that is something I have direct insight into. While we wait for the researchers and scientists to determine the physical effects, we can certainly impress upon cellular providers the importance of consistent, stringent implementation to ensure high-integrity data transmissions. Let’s at least fix the aspects that are fixable and reduce our vulnerability to attack. There is no stopping progress, so let’s rise to meet the challenge.
