Huawei’s Threat to Communications Networks

Updated: Saturday, 2/15/2020

“Most people are starting to realize that there are only two different types of companies in the world: those that have been breached and know it and those that have been breached and don’t know it. Therefore, prevention is not sufficient and you’re going to have to invest in detection because you’re going to want to know what system has been breached as fast as humanly possible so that you can contain and remediate.” Ted Schlein, a venture capitalist with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

To begin the discussion, it is important to understand that communications, such as telecommunications and internet data networks, are vital to national security and are critical infrastructure for every sovereign nation. Since critical electrical grids, 5G technology, autonomous vehicles and even hospitals rely on the communication networks.

U.S. Intelligence Sharing

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper warned allies that letting the Chinese firm Huawei build their next-generation, or 5G, network risks their security cooperation and information sharing arrangements with U.S. intelligence and national security agencies. The U.S. SECDEF remarked that, “reliance on Chinese 5G vendors, for example, could render our partners’ critical systems vulnerable to disruption, manipulation and espionage,” in a speech at the high-level Munich Security Conference in early 2020. “It could also jeopardize our communication and intelligence sharing capabilities, and by extension, our alliances.”

“National security is a serious matter and I do not think it is improper to discuss such details in a public forum.” Narendra Modi

One recent morning on Yahoo Finance, an on-air guest was dismissive about Huawei 5G technology and the U.S. Administration’s allegations that the Chinese technology giant has built backdoors to communication networks that they installed across the globe. Additionally the on-air guest stated that the Trump Administration needs to provide evidence of Huawei’s complicity to spy for China.

What the guest commentator omitted from his less than transparent comments was that unlike U.S. technology and telecommunications companies, Huawei has functioned as a tool for surveillance and espionage for the Communist Chinese government. In addition, they have been significantly subsidized for more than a decade by the Chinese authoritarian government. Thus, this is the reason that they can substantially underbid their Western competitors on 5G network projects across the globe.

Furthermore, despite Huawei’s adamant denials, they have built backdoors into the communications systems that include Huawei technology, equipment and software, or in networks that have been installed by them or their affiliates. Essentially, a backdoor is a method of bypassing a network’s security protocols to access communications or computer network.

Vodafone in Italy

U.S. Intelligence agencies have repeatedly warned allies regarding the potential threat posed by Huawei’s technology if installed in 5G networks. Back in April 2019, Yahoo Finance reposted a Bloomberg article that Vodafone Group, Europe’s biggest phone company, discovered hidden backdoors in the software installed by Huawei that could have given Huawei or the Chinese government unauthorized access into the Vodafone’s voice and data network. Although the backdoor was discovered and reportedly removed by Huawei, subsequent investigations by Vodafone discovered the the backdoor remained.

“We’re talking about the fate of our economy and the questionable resiliency of our Nation’s critical infrastructure. Why are experts so polite, patient, and forgiving when talking about cybercrime, cyber security, and National Security? The drama of each script kiddie botnet attack and Nation State pilfering of our IP has been turned into a soap opera through press releases, sound bites and enforced absurdity of mainstream media. It’s time for a cybersecurity zeitgeist in the West where cyber hygiene is a meme that is aggressively distributed by those who have mastered it and encouraged to be imitated by those who have experienced it.” James Scott.

Deterring Chinese cyber-espionage

We must not allow ourselves either to be misled by Chinese repeated denials or to rely solely on U.S. entertainment media’s reporting by omission regarding the cyber security risks posed to U.S. and its allies’ communications networks once Huawei’s equipment is installed. Effectively, Huawei is a Chinese Communist state-controlled enterprise. And, it operates at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party in surveilling their own citizens, and assisting with spying and espionage against foreign nations.

Bottomline, Huawei, and its affiliates, represent a national security threat to the United States, our allies, and our privacy. If they’re permitted to install their technology, equipment and software in critical communications infrastructure, backdoors and unencumbered access would exist. Their technology does pose a real threat to the economy, the critical communications networks and the critical infrastructure that relies on the communications backbone.

References:

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