The UK government has released an assessment focused on the security risks posed by Chinese telecom giant, Huawei. A British spy agency, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), has assessed whether the UK needs to heed warnings from the US to bar Huawei from the up-and-coming next-gen 5G networks. The GCHQ is a British spy agency equivalent to the U.S. National Security Agency.
Recent laws in China require Chinese firms, if directed, to assist the government in intelligence collection. The fear is that, through Huawei software and the telecom company’s latest technology, the Asian firm can enable cyber attacks or use devices in acts of espionage by the Chinese powers that be. The US has mounted full-court proceedings to urge partners worldwide to refrain from including Huawei in their 5G network rollouts in coming years.
Huawei is said to have close links to Chinese security services. The company was founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, who spent about 20 years in the People’s Liberation Army serving in a military-technology division and built the company from a staff of three to a multibillion-dollar behemoth. Ren is alleged to have close ties to the PLA, and Huawei’s former vice chair was an officer in the Ministry of State Security, China’s premier intelligence agency.
The GCHQ, which oversees a center that vets Huawei hardware and software for bugs and security vulnerabilities, said it will be difficult to manage the risk of future products until current defects are fixed. In a statement Thursday, Huawei said they understand the concerns and that they have developed a high-level plan to enhance the software through improved engineering to meet the requirements set by GCHQ and the UK telecoms industry.
This isn’t the first time that the GCHQ has identified serious problems with Huawei technology. Last year the GCHQ found major problems, and now, for the second year running, the GCHQ has found “further significant technical issues” in the firm’s engineering processes and Huawei software, “leading to new risks” in Britain’s 4G telecom networks, no doubt adding challenges and roadworks to the planned 5G developments across the UK in 2019.
Huawei continues to defend its record, saying they have never planted “back doors” in its products. However, the presence of serious software flaws could compromise systems even without a back door being planted. The source code scrutinized must be the same code installed on devices. Britain says Huawei has not fixed a range of “serious” problems affecting telecom network security. The government has said they require evidence of “sustained change”.
Huawei equipment is not currently used in Britain’s 4G network core, in government networks, or in any sensitive systems that run electricity, transportation, and other critical functions. Huawei accounts for roughly one-third of the British telecom system’s radio-access components, with Nordic firms Nokia and Ericsson making up the rest. There are no indications that similar software engineering issues have arisen with the other two firms.
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Source: Washington Post, 28 March 2019