May 27, 2014
http://www.cruxialcio.com/china-may-ban-ibm-servers-amid-escalating-cyber-war-us-7862
Reports indicate that the Chinese government may bar its banks using servers made by U.S. manufacturing IBM. Tensions between the two countries are mounting amid mutual recriminations over cyber espionage. Reuters
On Point
Case Studies
White Papers
Chinese authorities may move to ban banks in the country from using servers made by IBM, according to a published report.
The plan comes amid mutual recriminations and charges of cyber-espionage between the U.S. and China, and is seen as a largely retaliatory act by the People’s Republic.
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the Chinese government may cite security concerns to formally block the use of high-end IBM servers at its banks.
Such a move could cost IBM millions of dollars in lost hardware and maintenance sales. The ban could include the System z mainframe and Power line of servers.
The report, which cited unnamed individuals said to be familiar with the government’s plans, said China wants its financial institutions, including the People’s Bank, to replace Big Blue machines with hardware from local suppliers.
What to Do:Understand that China’s concerns about the security of U.S.-made IT products are largely political in nature. Conduct internal security testing or use reliable third-party reports for all new systems.
IBM servers and data storage systems feature multi-level security protections and have been used for years by the vast majority of major U.S. financial institutions, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup.
Tensions between China and the U.S. have escalated in the past month after American authorities indicted five Chinese military officers on charges of cyber-espionage. Prosecutors alleged that the individuals hacked into the corporate networks of private U.S. companies to steal trade secrets.
China responded by announcing that it would review the operations of foreign tech and consulting companies operating within its borders. The Financial Times reported earlier this week that consulting firm McKinsey & Co. may see its contracts with Chinese clients terminated.
Snowden fallout: China may be set to bar its banks from using IBM equipment.Ready Tweet
Last week, the Chinese government said it would ban Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system on government computers, citing security concerns.
In August, 2013, Chinese officials said they planned to investigate IBM, Oracle, and EMC due to “security concerns.”
Some analysts believe China’s reprisals can also be traced to revelations by NSA leaker Edward Snowden that the U.S. government sought out the aid of American tech firms when it came to spying on its global rivals.
“Local vendors like Huawei, Inspur, and Lenovo will likely benefit from the NSA/Snowden issue; they will gain share mostly in the hardware space, including server, storage, and networking, in 2014,” Forrester analyst Bryan Wang said in a blog post late last year.
Chinese CIOs “are cautious about holding off buying foreign tech equipment, pending new governmental policy in the coming years,” Wang said, in a previous post. “We expect these organizations to have to continue working with global suppliers, given that local vendors will find it difficult to solve several of their most complex IT challenges in the short term.”
China represents a significant market for U.S. tech companies. Forrester estimates that enterprise IT sales in the country will grow 8% in 2014.
An IBM spokesman did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment