Normal, day-to-day life has been reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year, greatly impacting the lives of virtually everyone. People were and still are being advised to stay home, isolating themselves from the rest of world to reduce the spread of the virus. This has led to a mass transition to working from home and increased digital usage due to people working virtually and performing their daily transactions mostly online.
This has also resulted in an accelerated adoption of the 5G network as a platform. This platform comprises 5G base towers and connected, Internet of Things devices that reside on it, forming a 5G ecosystem.
The benefits of the combination of this platform and connected devices could lead to a revolutionary transformation of business processes across many industries. These benefits include providing a faster network with improved and new technology capabilities, allowing for higher productivity compared to previous mobile technologies, providing flexibility to support a massive number of IoT devices with diverse requirements, transferring and delivering a 1,000-times higher volume of mobile data per area between devices, connecting a higher number of connected devices with a higher user data rate, and reducing network energy usage. For example, in the healthcare industry, these benefits could provide transformations such as:
- The expansion of telemedicine
- The transmission of large medical files and data analysis
- An artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic system
- Mobile robotic surgery
- A decentralized healthcare model
Despite these great benefits, there has been quite a bit of controversy around the adoption of 5G technology. This is because the 5G network depends on signals that generate radio magnetic waves through 5G network towers and connected devices residing on the 5G platform as means of connection and communication via these devices. These waves are generated at higher frequencies than previous mobile network platforms and could result in possible health risks. Over the past few years, medical doctors and scientists have co-signed appeals to the United Nations and the European Union about the potential hazard to human health and environment as a result of implementing 5G technology, and the need for reconsideration of international guidelines for human exposure to the radiation emitted by 5G.
In addition, there have been conspiracy theories falsely spread that COVID-19 was caused by 5G technology or that 5G signals harm people’s immune systems so that they become easier targets for the COVID-19 virus. These have led to worldwide protests and even the vandalizing of 5G cell towers.
I believe there is a need to focus on reducing the negative effects of 5G radio frequency exposure while achieving the positive transformation resulting from 5G technology implementation. This could be attained by adopting and implementing standards on radio frequency exposure for 5G technology by national advisory and regulatory bodies of countries. After adoption, these standards should be translated to controls and techniques at the individual organization level where they can be implemented effectively to ensure that the organization’s 5G platforms aligns with the adopted standards. Some of these techniques include:
- Device-based solutions
- Architecture-based designs
- Network-based solutions
- Regulation-based approaches
In order to manage the risk of noncompliance with established standards, a framework such as ISACA’s Risk IT Framework could be adopted and implemented.
Editor’s note: For further insights on this topic, read Ronke Oyemade’s recent Journal article, “Healthcare Revolution in the 5G Age: Health Risk and Opportunity,” ISACA Journal, volume 2, 2021.
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