The Department of Homeland Security plans to advise telecoms on how to protect their cell towers. That’s because of recent attacks on cell towers in the U.S. and Europe as some believe an unsupported conspiracy theory that links 5G with spreading the coronavirus. The FCC and other government agencies have said there is no link (see related story here.)
In addition, FEMA says 5G technology does not cause coronavirus. The World Health Organization says viruses cannot travel via radio waves or mobile networks and notes that COVID-19 is appearing in countries without advanced wireless systems.
In the last few weeks, U.S. carriers have seen sporadic attacks on their cell towers that were apparently prompted by COVID-19 disinformation, an industry official told The Washington Post. “It’s pretty clear,” he said that some of the attacks may be by “eco-terrorists.”
The DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will issue the alert with advice on ways to reduce the risk of attack. Those include installing sensors and barriers, cyberintrusion detection systems, closed-circuit television as well as monitoring drone activity near towers.
5G technology uses electromagnetic fields to transfer information, and “it is physically impossible that electromagnetic fields transfer particles like viruses,” said Eric van Rongen, vice chairman of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, a Germany-based organization providing scientific advice on the effects of non-ionizing radiation. “So 5G, or any other telecommunication system, cannot spread COVID-19.”
YouTube pledged to remove videos that falsely link 5G to the coronavirus.
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