The US Air Force chooses Verizon for network upgrades, despite intrusions by the Salt Typhoon
- Verizon has won a major contract for the US Air Force despite recent security concerns
- Under the contract, Verizon will provide 5G network upgrades to bases across the US
- The victory comes despite a recent network breach by a foreign hacker
Verizon has announced it will provide the US Air Force with 5G network upgrades at 35 installations across the United States.
Through the agency’s Offer to Lease program, Verizon will provide network enhancements such as new macro builds, small cells and C-band carrier extensions, hopefully bringing faster speeds, greater bandwidth and lower latency to base personnel and the community.
However, some may raise eyebrows at the news, which comes just over a week after Verizon and AT&T confirmed their networks were free of Chinese state-sponsored Salt Typhoon attackers.
Verizon Military Contracts
The massive attack hacked nine major companies and compromised more than 100,000 routers in one network alone. The attackers were able to “geolocate millions of individuals and record phone calls at will,” said Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser. for cyber and emerging technology.
It is unclear whether the deal was closed before the breach was announced, but the breach is considered one of the worst of its kind in telecommunications breaches, and the fallout from the breach is still being understood.
Verizon already has contracts with the military to support flight line test equipment, animated simulation and training, full-motion, high-definition video to support telemedicine for its pilots, and ultra-fast artificial intelligence for biometric identification.
“This is Verizon’s seventh OTL win in eight attempts, which is a testament to the confidence the U.S. Air Force has in the power and speed of our network, as well as the quality of the professional and managed services expertise they are acquiring our people,” said Maggie Hallbach, senior vice president of Verizon Public Sector.
“We are honored to have Verizon Business as one of their most trusted partners.”