翻译：汉锐 ；原文：麻省理工科技评论 by Will Knight 中美文化俱乐部
中美两国卷入了对中国电信公司华为的政治战争。美国人最近加剧了长期以来的批评，声称华为这家科技巨头窃取了商业机密并犯下了欺诈行为，并且与中国政府及其军方有联系。
华为否认了这些指控，并试图捍卫其对隐私和安全保护的记录。与此同时，包括英国，新西兰，澳大利亚，加拿大，德国和日本在内的美国盟友都对华为的设备施加了限制，或者正在考虑这样做，理由是国家安全问题。
然而，在头条新闻的背后，争吵也是关于即将到来的5G网络技术浪潮，谁拥有它。
以下五点解释了什么是5G技术及其在紧张局势中的角色。
1. 什么是5G？
5G不是一种协议或设备，而是指一系列网络技术，旨在协同工作，将自动驾驶汽车和家用电器等各种设备连接起来。预计它可提供高达每秒20千兆位的宽带，足以瞬时下载高清电影，并在智能手机上使用虚拟(virtual)和增强现实技术(augmented reality).
第一批5G智能手机和基础设施今年开始运作。但全面过渡到5G运用需要更多年。
2. 5G为什么更好？
5G网络在两个不同的频率范围内运行。在一种模式下，他们将利用与现有4G和Wi-Fi网络相同的频率，同时使用更有效的编码方案和更大的信道尺寸来实现25％至50％的速度提升。在第二种模式中，5G网络将使用更高的毫米波频率，这些频率可以以更高的速度传输数据，尽管范围更短。
由于毫米波在短距离内下降，5G将需要更多的发射器。其中很多，有时只相隔几十米。连接的设备将在这些发射器和旧硬件之间无缝跳跃。
为了增加带宽，5G小区还利用称为大规模MIMO（多输入，多输出）的技术。这允许数百个天线并行工作，这可以提高速度，并有助于将延迟降低到大约一毫秒（从4G大约30毫秒），同时让更多设备连接。
最后，通过允许发送器和设备在相同频率上发送和接收数据，称为全双工的技术将进一步增加数据容量。这是使用能够确保输入和输出信号不会相互干扰的专用电路来完成的。
3. 什么是安全风险？
5G最大的安全问题之一就是它的使用范围。
5G代替有线连接并打开门，可以通过互联网连接和更新更多设备，包括家用电器和工业机器。即使是自动驾驶的汽车，工业机器人和医院设备依赖于5G永远存在的，永不滞后的带宽，也能够毫无打嗝地运行。
与任何全新技术一样，安全漏洞肯定会在早期出现。例如，欧洲的研究人员已经发现了加密密钥在5G网络中交换的方式中的弱点。有了这么多连接设备，数据被盗和破坏的风险 - 网络安全人员称之为攻击面 - 将会高得多。
由于5G旨在与现有的4G，3G和Wi-Fi网络兼容 - 在某些情况下使用网状网络完全切断网络的中央控制 - 现有的安全问题也将转移到新网络。英国GCHQ预计将在未来几周内突出华为技术（可能涉及4G系统）的安全问题。
借助5G，一层控制软件将有助于确保无缝连接，创建虚拟网络并提供新的网络功能。例如，网络运营商可以为银行创建专用5G网络，并且银行可以使用网络的功能来验证应用用户的身份。
但是，该软件层将为恶意网络运营商提供窥探和操纵数据的新方法。它还可能为攻击开辟新的载体，而硬件错误可以使用户在虚拟网络之间跳转，窃听或窃取数据。
4. 5G可以保证安全吗？
安全问题给我们描绘了一幅黯淡的画面 - 但所有这些安全隐患都有技术解决方案。
仔细使用加密可以帮助保护通信，保护数据在流经不同系统和虚拟网络时保护数据 - 甚至可以从拥有和运行硬件的公司保护数据。这种编码方案可以帮助防止干扰，窥探和黑客攻击。
有两篇研究论文提供了风险和潜在解决方案的良好概述：5G安全：威胁和解决方案分析; 5G移动无线网络的安全性。
“如果你做得正确，你实际上会拥有一个更强大的网络，”麻省理工学院网络编码和可靠通信组负责人穆里尔·梅达德说。
5. 为什么华为的5G引起了很大的关注？
作为全球最大的网络设备供应商和第二大智能手机制造商，华为处于抢夺5G市场份额的主要位置，据估计，这个市场在五年内可能价值1230亿美元。
阻止华为扩张到西方市场可以让西方竞争对手赶上来。但是5G技术的确也存在安全问题，并且让一家公司垄断也是一个问题。
美国政府似乎已经决定，让一家中国公司控制太多的5G基础设施风险太大了。
鉴于5G的重要性，新的复杂性和安全性挑战，以及中国公司准备成为如此巨大的参与者这一事实，对华为的关注是有一定道理的。考虑到中国企业对政府负责的方式，华为与中国军方及其网络运营的明显联系，以及私营企业与国家之间的紧密联系，这似乎也是一个合理的考虑因素。
但与华为的持续斗争也表明新技术对全球竞争，经济实力乃至国际安全的未来至关重要。
The real reason America is scared of Huawei: internet-connected everything
by Will Knight
MIT Technology Review 2/8/2019
The two countries are embroiled in a political war over the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. The Americans have recently stepped up long-standing criticisms, claiming the tech giant has stolen trade secrets and committed fraud, and that it has ties to the Chinese government and its military.
The company denies the charges and has sought to defend its record on privacy and security. Meanwhile, US allies including Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Germany, and Japan have all either imposed restrictions on Huawei’s equipment or are considering doing so, citing national security concerns.
Behind the headlines, though, the spat is also about the coming wave of networking technology known as 5G, and who owns it.
Here are five things you need to know about the technology and its role in the tensions.
1. WHAT IS 5G?
Rather than a protocol or device, 5G refers to an array of networking technologies meant to work in concert to connect everything from self-driving cars to home appliances over the air. It’s expected to provide bandwidth of up to 20 gigabits per second—enough to download high-definition movies instantly and use virtual and augmented reality. On your smartphone.
The first 5G smartphones and infrastructure arrive this year, but a full transition will take many more years.
2. WHY IS IT BETTER?
5G networks operate on two different frequency ranges. In one mode, they will exploit the same frequencies as existing 4G and Wi-Fi networks, while using a more efficient coding scheme and larger channel sizes to achieve a 25% to 50% speed boost. In a second mode, 5G networks will use much higher, millimeter-wave frequencies that can transmit data at higher speeds, albeit over shorter ranges.
Since millimeter waves drop off over short distances, 5G will require more transmitters. A lot of them, sometimes just a few dozen meters apart. Connected devices will hop seamlessly between these transmitters as well as older hardware.
To increase bandwidth, 5G cells also make use of a technology known as massive MIMO (multiple input, multiple output). This allows hundreds of antennas to work in parallel, which increases speeds and will help lower latency to around a millisecond (from about 30 milliseconds in 4G) while letting more devices connect.
Finally, a technology called full duplex will increase data capacity further still by allowing transmitters and devices to send and receive data on the same frequency. This is done using specialized circuits capable of ensuring that incoming and outgoing signals do not interfere with one another.
3. WHAT ARE THE SECURITY RISKS?
One of 5G’s biggest security issues is simply how widely it will be used.
5G stands to replace wired connections and open the door for many more devices to be connected and updated via the internet, including home appliances and industrial machines. Even self-driving cars, industrial robots, and hospital devices that rely on 5G’s ever-present, never-lagging bandwidth will be able to run without a hiccup.
As with any brand-new technology, security vulnerabilities are sure to emerge early on. Researchers in Europe have already identified weak spots in the way cryptographic keys will be exchanged in 5G networks, for example. With so many more connected devices, the risk for data theft and sabotage—what cybersecurity folks call the attack surface—will be that much higher.
Since 5G is meant to be compatible with existing 4G, 3G, and Wi-Fi networks—in some cases using mesh networking that cuts out central control of a network entirely—existing security issues will also carry over to the new networks. Britain’s GCHQ is expected to highlight security issues with Huawei’s technology, perhaps involving 4G systems, in coming weeks.
With 5G, a layer of control software will help ensure seamless connectivity, create virtual networks, and offer new network features. A network operator might create a private 5G network for a bank, for instance, and the bank could use features of the network to verify the identities of app users.
This software layer will, however, offer new ways for a malicious network operator to snoop on and manipulate data. It may also open up new vectors for attack, while hardware bugs could make it possible for users to hop between virtual networks, eavesdropping or stealing data as they do.
4. CAN 5G BE MADE SECURE?
These security worries paint a bleak picture—but there are technical solutions to all of them.
Careful use of cryptography can help secure communications in a way that protects data as it flows across different systems and through virtual networks—even guarding it from the companies that own and run the hardware. Such coding schemes can help guard against jamming, snooping, and hacking.
Two research papers offer a good overview of the risks and potential solutions: 5G Security: Analysis of Threats and Solutions (pdf); Security for 5G Mobile Wireless Networks (pdf).
“If you do it correctly, you will actually have a more robust network,” says Muriel Médard, a professor who leads the Network Coding and Reliable Communications Group at MIT.
5. WHY IS HUAWEI’S 5G CAUSING SO MUCH CONCERN?
As the world’s biggest supplier of networking equipment and second largest smartphone maker, Huawei is in a prime position to snatch the lion’s share of a 5G market that, by some estimates, could be worth $123 billion in five years’ time.
Stalling the company’s expansion into Western markets could have the convenient side effect of letting competitors catch up. But there are also legitimate security concerns surrounding 5G—and reasons to think it could be problematic for one company to dominate the space.
The US government appears to have decided that it’s simply too risky for a Chinese company to control too much 5G infrastructure.
The focus on Huawei makes sense given the importance of 5G, the new complexity and security challenges, and the fact that the Chinese company is poised to be such a huge player. And given the way Chinese companies are answerable to the government, Huawei’s apparent connections with the Chinese military and its cyber operations, and the tightening ties between private industry and the state, this seems a legitimate consideration.
But the ongoing fight with Huawei also goes to show how vital new technology is to the future of global competition, economic might, and even international security.
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