A report issued by the British government has concluded that products developed and manufactured by the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei present significant security risks.
Assembled by the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) and presented to the UK National Security Adviser, the report found that on a wide range of security issues related to both its software and engineering, Huawei has failed to maintain adequate protections.
“Poor software engineering and cybersecurity processes lead to security and quality issues, including vulnerabilities. The number and severity of vulnerabilities discovered, along with architectural and build issues, by the relatively small team in HCSEC is a particular concern. If an attacker has knowledge of these vulnerabilities and sufficient access to exploit them, they may be able to affect the operation of the network, in some cases causing it to cease operating correctly,” stated the report, going on to add:
“These findings are about basic engineering competence and cybersecurity hygiene that give rise to vulnerabilities that are capable of being exploited by a range of actors.”
Huawei has been the subject of ongoing controversy in the West. Its bids to build the infrastructure for 5G wireless networks have been blocked in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand for security reasons and allegations that their equipment has backdoors that the Chinese government can exploit. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned European nations that using Huawei equipment make it “more difficult” for the U.S. to partner with them.
Huawei is currently suing the United States over the ban, and the company’s chairman Guo Ping accused the U.S. government of having a “loser’s attitude,” and that “The U.S. has abandoned all table manners.”
