Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) director Christopher Krebs said that a strategic risk assessment of 5G technology would be completed within “a couple months” at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Krebs did not get into specifics of what the assessment would take a look at, but he shared his concern that there hasn’t been a fully fleshed out conversation about the technology on Capitol Hill.
“My concern right now, is that we haven’t scoped the conversation—at least in Washington, D.C.,” Krebs said. He hoped the conversation about 5G would stretch across Federal agencies in Washington and policy circles so that when action is taken on passing 5G legislation, the issue has been studied in the right way.
China’s influence on supply chain, including 5G, has loomed over technology procurement, with security risks causing trust issues for the U.S. government. In February, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News that the U.S. would not be able to partner or share information with countries that use technology from Chinese manufacturer Huawei.
“It boils down to trust. If I don’t trust it, I’m not going to use it,” Krebs said at the conference. Despite the concern around Huawei, Krebs said that CISA wasn’t going to specifically target individual vendors during its risk assessment, but rather create a framework for acquisition.
