A massive cybersecurity breach was observed by the Federal authorities in the US and other countries of the world. It was suspected this is the work of the Russian hackers. The cybersecurity agency CISA or FBI has not publicly named any agency responsible for the attack. It is not confirmed. The cybersecurity agency CISA has not named which agencies has been breached and what information has been culled. The attack appeared to have begun in March, 2020. The attack had signs of sophistication and complex tradecraft. It is difficult to identify the threat actor from the compromised systems.

To deter the actor/s, from any future action, it is necessary to identify it/them, and impose substantial costs on them. It is necessary to have other countries on board. Just strengthening their cyber-country is not enough.

The perpetrators seem to have used SolarWinds, a network management software from Texas to infiltrate the computer systems. They may have used other methods too.

There are reports that Treasury and Commerce departments were breached. SolarWinds has been removed from the servers.

This is the worst hacking case in the history of the US. It is widespread. The damage is not yet known.

The initial investigation has revealed that malware has been injected into the networks through a SolarWinds updates.

On 16th Dec 2020, Texas Attorney General filed anti-trust law suit against Google. The key point is Google’s collusion with Facebook in a deal that manipulates auctions for online advertising. The allegation has been denied by Google, and Facebook has refrained from commenting.

As we are aware, the system of programmatic buying uses automated ad technology. It is called header bidding which routes digital ads into a live auction. As the bids go up from an array of sources, the rates go up. Till recently the header bidding from smaller advertising technology companies posed a threat to Google’s ad exchange. It opened the bidding process to other exchanges. Therefore, Google created a programme to ‘let its own exchange’ win the bid .

Facebook too used header bidding since 2017. In 2018, it was introduced in mobile apps.

This allowed Facebook to take a portion of ads across the internet and mobile phones. Facebook was in direct competition with Google. Facebook, however, ceased the practice. According to the Texas suit it made a deal with Google to let Facebook sell ads on mobile apps, and provide it with advantages in ad auctions.

Reliance expects to roll out 5G in the second half of 2021. It expects the government policy that makes the services affordable and available everywhere. Bharti sees 5G as the norm in the mobile broadband space in the next two-three years. Some feel that if India-specific standards are set, it will lock the country out of the global eco-system. There should be an open eco-system. In past, there was a competition between CDMA and GSM technology, and GSM won as it was more acceptable, not because it was superior. In fact CDMA was superior to GSM. GSM could become part of the global eco-system.

5G is helpful in factory automation, robotics, IoT, control systems.

India has to work on the costing of running a 5G network. There should be affordable 5G handsets.

Nokia has begun the production of next generation of 5G equipment at its plant in Chennai.

India has announced a plan in a National Mission for Quantum Technologies and Applications (NM-QTA) so as not to lag behind the other countries in developing this nascent technology. To supplement the funding and skills, the government can rope in the private sector and academia. There is a proposal to create a quantum computer with a 50-qbit capacity in the next five years. Still India is not on par with other countries and have to accelerate its puce.

In the early 2020, the university of Chicago (UoC) created a 52-mile quantum loop to transfer sub-atomic particles. This could pave the way for quantum internet. This was a connection between two points, and not a network as the present-day internet is.

Later, the US has released a blueprint for national quantum internet. It is expected that this technology would materialise in the next 10 years. Other countries such as China, the Netherlands and the UK too have conducted experiments of quantum loop over smaller distances.

In India, the DRDO established a connection between Defence Research Development Laboratory and the Research Centre Imarat (RCI) in Hyderabad. These are located 10kms. apart. By world standards, India’s achievement is modest. Delft University proposes to connect two cities by a quantum loop later in Dec.2020.

Quantum technology now has limited applications. Internet speed is also slower. However, it is extremely secure. Country’s defence and scientific systems can rely on such secure internet. Quantum computers can be used to break encryption protocols.

Satellite broadband can only complement terrestrial broadband since costs of satellite broadband will always be higher.

Satellite could be put into space into low orbits between 160 and 2000 kms above the earth. These are called low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. They provide low communication latency but cover a small part of the earth’s surface. Medium-earth-orbit or MEO satellites are between 2000 and 35,786 kms above the earth. They are used for navigation like GPS communication satellites. Satellites could be placed in geosynchronous orbit and are called GEO Satellites. They are at or over 35,786 kms above the earth’s surface. They are used for weather forecasting, infrared images and navigation.

Starlink of Musk has put in over 800 satellites, compared to 74 of OneWeb. They could operate with Universal Aecess Service License or UASL. There could be cost for spectrum — KU band. OneWeb wants to cater to the Himalayan region, dense forest region, desert region of Rajasthan and Africa and Asia. Satellite connection is an alternative technology in remote areas and interiors.

Satellite weights have come down from almost 700 kg to 150-260 kg. That has reduced costs. There is high throughput in satellites exceeding 500 GBPs. It has reduced the cost per megabit. The challenging part is the cost of equipment at home to power the broadband. Here subsidisation will be necessary.

There was a proposal from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in 2017 to set up public WiFi networks accessible through public data offices. This Wi-Fi Access Network Interface will be called PM-WANI. This proposal has been cleared by the Cabinet in Dec. 2020. TRAI mooted the proposal when the data cost was high — Rs.50/GB. These days data has become cheap — Rs. 5/GB. It is to be seen whether Public WIFi will have takers or not.

In this model, small shop owners will buy bulk data from licensed telecom operators. They will sell it to subscribers who do not have WiFi access. It is like selling sachets. People can buy data for limited time period as per their usage. It is useful even in those areas where connectivity of licensed operators is weak. Small shopkeepers running public data office (PDOs) or common service centres will not require any license or registration. The aggregator would be called PDOA. It will do authorisation and accounting.

The app provider will develop an app to register users and discover WANI compliant WiFi hotspots in the nearby area and display the same within the app for accessing internet service. There will be a central register which will maintain the details of app providers, PDOAs and PDOs.

This resembles the PCO model of yore when STD/ISD services were introduced.