Huawei poses long-term national security risk, spy watchdog warns

BRITAIN’S spy agency has delivered a scathing verdict on the security risks to UK telecoms from Chinese technology giant Huawei

A watchdog, chaired by the head of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, said there were ‘concerning issues’ about electronics made by the firm and installed in the UK.

The Huawei oversight board’s report, published yesterday, says the Government is particularly concerned about ‘several hundred’ vulnerabilities and issues reported in 2018. In many cases they relate to engineering that risks making parts of the UK’s telecoms system vulnerable to cyber attack. It says: ‘Overall, the oversight board can only provide limited assurance that all risks to UK national security... can be sufficiently mitigated long-term.’

‘These findings are about basic engineering competence... that give rise to vulnerabilities that are capable of being exploited by a range of actors.’ However, it adds: ‘NCSC does not believe that the defects identified are a result of Chinese state interference.’

The comments come as the Government prepares to make a decision over the launch of 5G – Britain’s next generation mobile network. Huawei promised to spend £1.5billion to address concerns raised by the board. The watchdog had already indicated last year that its patience was wearing thin. Yesterday it went further, effectively issuing an ultimatum that the firm must fix the problems or be excluded from parts of Britain’s telecoms network.

Huawei said it took the board’s concerns ‘very seriously’ but it could take up to five years to address all of the issues.

Britain’s four major mobile networks have already started testing 5G technology using Huawei equipment, and they say a ban now could cost the industry hundreds of millions. A final decision on Huawei’s involvement in 5G will be published in the next few weeks. The firm is beset by troubles after its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Canada on suspicion of fraud and breaching US sanctions in December, at the request of the United States.

The firm’s sales director in Poland was fired after he was arrested by the country’s counter-intelligence service in January on spying charges.