by Martin Giles and Elizabeth Woyke
The detention in Canada of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s CFO and the daughter of its founder, is further inflaming tensions between the US and China. Her arrest is linked to a US extradition request on undisclosed charges, but China says it’s a human rights violation and is demanding her swift release.
Behind this very public drama is a long-running, behind-the-scenes one centered on western intelligence agencies’ fears that Huawei poses a significant threat to global security. Among the spooks’ biggest concerns are:
There could be “kill switches” in Huawei equipment…
The Chinese firm is the world’s largest manufacturer of things like base stations and antennae that mobile operators use to run wireless networks. And those networks carry data that’s used to help control power grids, financial markets, transport systems, and other parts of countries’ vital infrastructure. The fear is that China’s military and intelligence services could insert software or hardware “backdoors” into Huawei’s gear that they could exploit to degrade or disable foreign wireless networks in the event of a crisis. This has led to moves in the USto block Chinese equipment from being used.
…which even close inspections miss
Since 2010, the UK has been running a special center, whose staff includes members of its GCHQ signals-intelligence agency, to vet Huawei gear before it’s deployed. But earlier this year, it warned that it had “only limited assurance” that the company’s equipment didn’t pose a security threat. According to press reports, the center had found that some of Huawei’s code behaved differently on actual networks than when it was tested, and that some of its software suppliers weren’t subject to rigorous controls.
Backdoors could be used for data snooping
Huawei claims its equipment connects over a third of the world’s population. It’s also handling vast amounts of data for businesses. No wonder there’s fear in western intelligence circles that backdoors could be used to tap into sensitive information using the firm’s equipment. This would be tricky to do undetected, but not impossible. Huawei doesn’t just build equipment; it can also connect to it wirelessly to issue upgrades and patches to fix bugs. There’s concern that this remote connectivity could be exploited by Chinese cyber spies.
The company is also one of the world’s biggest makers of smartphones and other consumer devices, which has raised the prospect that its products might be exploited by China for espionage. In May, the US Department of Defense ordered retail stores on US military bases to stop selling phones from Huawei and ZTE, another big Chinese tech giant, because of fears they could be hacked to reveal the locations and movements of military personnel.
The rollout of 5G wireless networks will make everything worse
Telecom companies around the world are about to roll out the next generation of cellular wireless, known as 5G. As well as speeding up data transfers, 5G networks will enable self-driving cars to talk to each other and to things like smart traffic lights. They’ll also connect and control a vast number of robots in factories and other locations. And they’ll be used by the military for all kinds of applications, too. This will dramatically expand the number of connected devices—and the chaos that can be caused if the 5G networks supporting them are hacked. It will also ramp up the amount of corporate and other data that hackers can target. Both Australia and New Zealand have recently banned the use of Huawei equipment in new 5G wireless infrastructure. This week, the UK’s BT from followed suit.
Chinese firms will ship tech to countries in defiance of a US trade embargo
There’s been speculation the arrest of Huawei’s CFO is linked to a US investigation into claims the company shipped products with US tech components to Iran and other countries subject to a US embargo. Chinese officials have repeatedly said they don’t consider China’s companies to be bound by other nations’ trade edicts.
Huawei isn’t as immune to Chinese government influence as it claims to be
Huawei has repeatedly stressed it’s a private company that’s owned by its employees. The implication is that it has no incentive to cause customers to lose confidence in the integrity of its products. On the other hand, its governance structures are still something of a mystery and its founder, Ren Zhengfei, who was once an officer in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, keeps a low profile. Such things “make you question just how much independence it really has”, says Adam Segal, a cybersecurity expert at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
In its defense, Huawei can point to the fact that no security researchers have found backdoors in its products. “There’s all this concern, but there’s never been a smoking gun,” says Paul Triolo of the Eurasia Group. While that’s true, it won’t change the view of the US, which is stepping up its efforts to persuade its allies to keep Huawei out of all their networks.
No comments:
Post a Comment