By Pacific Island Times News Staff
One year after a cyberattack compromised the military infrastructure on Guam, the U.S. Navy has begun beefing up its telecommunication system in partnership with private carriers.
Privacy-first mobile carrier Cape has unveiled its partnership with IT&E Guam to pilot its secure communications capability and test its cybersecurity solutions for the U.S. Navy on Guam, according to a report published this week by Capacity Media.
“Customers in Guam will be able to leverage Cape's cloud-based secure network via IT&E's physical RAN, laying the groundwork for secure communications and enhanced protection of warfighters, military contractors, their families, and other citizens on Guam,” states the report.
“Complete mobile network resilience ensures telecom infrastructure is protected against both manmade and natural threats,” John Doyle, Cape’s CEO, said in a statement to Capacity Media. “To achieve this, we chose to go where the diversity and severity of threats is the greatest.”
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In a report released the day Typhoon Mawar hit Guam on May 24, 2023, Microsoft disclosed it had uncovered “stealthy and targeted malicious activity focused on post-compromise credential access and network system discovery aimed at critical infrastructure organizations in the United States.
"The attack is carried out by Volt Typhoon, a state-sponsored actor based in China that typically focuses on espionage and information gathering,” Microsoft said.
Security officials noted that the cyberattack on Guam underscored the need to add layers of cybersecurity to protect military infrastructure.
In November 2023, the U.S. Navy released its Cyber strategy for surviving adversary cyberattacks and protecting critical infrastructure, weapon systems, and platforms.
“While our infrastructure was sufficient for military mobility in the absence of peer competitors, the realities of strategic competition require the DON to rapidly improve security and resilience benchmarks in line with the National Cybersecurity Strategy,” the document states.
“We will double down on existing programs and initiatives that are producing results and focus near-term efforts on ‘bolting on’ security and resiliency capabilities to deployed assets,” the Navy said.
On Jan. 11, the Navy awarded Booz Allen Hamilton a two-year, $10 million contract to design, implement, test, and operate a private 5G cellular network and asset tracking solution in Guam.
“This contract win marks Booz Allen’s first 5G full-scale implementation in the Indo-Pacific region and will enable the Navy and the Department of Defense to maximize mission success in the region by providing the technology that improves communication, logistics, maintenance, and secure operations,” Booz Allen Hamilton said in a press release.
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“The development of this 5G network will further enable the United States, its partners, and allies to compete responsibly and defend our interest in the region to build a common vision for the future,” the press release added.
Meanwhile, Cape said it is working to address mobile network risks for the U.S. Navy, “including cybersecurity threats posed by hackers and nation-state actors to resiliency threats from natural disasters.”
“We’re eager to collaborate with our pioneer telecom partner IT&E on such an important issue for our national security, and look forward to helping address the problem of vulnerabilities in telco infrastructure together with Cape’s first principles approach to privacy and security and IT&E’s leading network technology,” Doyle said.
In a press release last month, Cape— A pioneering privacy-first mobile carrier— announced it has raised $61 million in financing rounds to build a nationwide mobile network that “provides premium wireless coverage.”
Unlike traditional carriers, Cape said its network “masks personal identifying information like names, numbers and locations.”
"These are not only life and death questions for our nation’s defenders, but are also increasingly on the minds of everyday people, whose phones are with them through nearly every moment of their day," Doyle said. "We are tackling an enormous set of problems that exist due to the rise of smartphones and mobile networks as a primary avenue to accessing the Internet. We can’t leak what we don’t have.
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