Jessica Rosenworcel, commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, has said that the U.S. lacks a comprehensive plan for coordinating interagency response to cyber threats ahead of the planned 5G rollout, Fifth Domain reported Thursday.
Rosenworcel told members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the nation is “facing well-resourced challenges†to 5G implementation, with the FCC planning to ban and replace Huawei and ZTE technologies used for the agency’s Universal Service Fund.
She noted that it will cost around $700 million to $1 billion to implement the policy, which will significantly impact the program aimed at delivering broadband services to rural areas.
Robert Strayer, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for cyber and international communications and information policy, added that the 5G transition may bring heightened risks as former “non-critical†technologies become more susceptible to cyberattacks.
“We’re going to have to start thinking about the technologies that allow us to be secure in a world where we have to connect to insecure networks,†noted Rosenworcel.
