The Huawei problem
Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has hit the headlines recently, partly because of US government sanctions and partly because of the alleged actions that led to those sanctions being levied. The company is accused of ‘phoning home’, with some of its devices sending mysterious data streams back to cloud servers operated by China’s Ministry of Public Security.
This supposed surveillance has, quite understandably, caused something of a concern about the levels of security around Huawei’s hardware – as well as about the company’s heavy involvement in supplying vital components of the UK’s 5G infrastructure.
The story is a long one. It involves an impasse over law – a 2017 Chinese intelligence ruling requires companies to share data with the country’s government if asked, while UK law would rather that wasn’t the case – and a whole heap of double-talk from Huawei’s representatives over whether it would actually comply. It involves former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson being sacked from his cabinet position after leaking the UK government’s intention to approve the use of Huawei equipment in 5G networks, and Ian Levy, technical director at the National Cyber Security Centre, calling Huawei’s security “objectively worse” than that of equipment manufacturers based in the west.
As things stand, Huawei equipment features in all three major UK networks’ 5G backbones. A report from the UK’s Science and Technology Select Committee has said it can find no technical grounds to withdraw Huawei’s hardware or ban its use, though the same report also suggests that “there may well be geopolitical or ethical considerations” to consider. Then there’s the issue of time, money, and goodwill: removing Huawei would set back 5G considerably. That’s where we stand – and Cisco, Nokia and Ericsson are polishing up their security procedures just in case…