Skip to main content

Huawei on the defensive as threat of UK 5G exclusion hovers


As the UK government considers making a U-turn on its decision to permit Huawei a limited role as a supplier for the country’s 5G infrastructure, the Shenzhen-based telecommunications giant is launching a full-throttle media campaign to bolster its reputation.
In January, the UK government gave Huawei the green light to supply up to 35 per cent of the 5G Radio Access Network: the peripheral, non security-critical parts of the infrastructure. The decision attracted an angry response from both the Trump White House and also from Tory backbenchers closer to home, who continue to threaten a rebellion against Huawei’s inclusion and favour the company’s equipment being entirely removed from UK infrastructure by 2023.
Allegations made against Huawei by US authorities include that the company could act as a clandestine earpiece for the Chinese Communist Party. Huawei has repeatedly rejected these accusations.
The Trump administration recently introduced additional restrictions against Huawei, effectively preventing the company from using technology with US origins. Subsequently, the UK government commissioned an urgent National Cyber Security Centre review, which may conclude that Huawei is no longer in a position to provide equipment for UK mobile operators, in turn paving the way for the government to make a U-turn on January’s decision.
With this ‘Sword of Damocles’ hanging over Huawei’s future in the UK, the company is initiating a massive media campaign to reject the perception that it is a national security risk. Instead, it aim to promote its 20-year-long history in the UK and its “commitment” to the country.
Huawei promised to bring “fast, reliable mobile and full-fibre broadband networks to every part of the country” in an open letter splashed as full-page advertisements in UK newspapers.
“Huawei grew up in the UK. We’ve been here for 20 years and were integral in building the 3G and 4G networks we all use every day,” Huawei VP Victor Zhang said in a statement. “Today’s letter underlines Huawei’s ongoing commitment to improving connectivity for everyone in the UK. As a private company, 100 per cent owned by employees, our priority has been to help mobile and broadband companies build a better-connected UK.”
“Britain needs the best possible technologies, more choice, innovation and more suppliers, all of which means more secure and more resilient networks. This is fundamental to achieving the government’s gigabit broadband target by 2025. This is our commitment to the UK.”
The letter also boasts of Huawei’s role in job creation, investment in R&D and training engineers.
Speaking to reporters today, Zhang said he hoped the commitment would inform Britons that Huawei is security conscious, has excellent technology and cares about the UK, as well as dispelling some myths about the company. He said he believed the government would take an “evidence-based approach” when reviewing Huawei’s position.
Zhang repeatedly insisted that it is too early to draw any conclusions about the impact of the new US restrictions on Huawei’s future in the UK’s 5G rollout: “We strongly oppose the amendment made by the US Department of Commerce […] this will definitely damage the global supply chain of the semiconductor industry, which lots of industries rely on. It is too early to [make] conclusions about the impact, so we are working closely with our partners and suppliers to take a full and comprehensive examination of these new rules.”
However, Zhang added that Huawei had already survived one blow from the US government, after being added to the ‘Entity List’ last year.
Sign up to the E&T News e-mail to get great stories like this delivered to your inbox every day.

Originally published at https://eandt.theiet.org on June 8, 2020.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ransomware's Dangerous New Trick Is Double-Encrypting Your Data

  Ransomware groups have always taken a more-is-more approach . If a victim pays a ransom and then goes back to business as usual-hit them again. Or don’t just encrypt a target’s systems; steal their data first, so you can threaten to leak it if they don’t pay up. The latest escalation? Ransomware hackers who encrypt a victim’s data twice at the same time. Double-encryption attacks have happened before, usually stemming from two separate ransomware gangs compromising the same victim at the same time. But antivirus company Emsisoft says it is aware of dozens of incidents in which the same actor or group intentionally layers two types of ransomware on top of each other. “The groups are constantly trying to work out which strategies are best , which net them the most money for the least amount of effort,” says Emsisoft threat analyst Brett Callow. “So in this approach you have a single actor deploying two types of ransomware. The victim decrypts their data and discovers it’s not act...
Post a Comment
Read more

Babuk ransomware is back, uses new version on corporate networks

  After announcing their exit from the ransomware business in favor of data theft extortion, the Babuk gang appears to have slipped back into their old habit of encrypting corporate networks. The criminals are currently using a new version of their file-encrypting malware and have moved the operation to a new leak site that lists a handful of victims. Gang’s still in the game The Babuk ransomware group became known at the beginning of the year but the gang says that their attacks had started in mid-October 2020, targeting companies across the world and demanding ransoms typically between $60,000 and $85,000 in bitcoin cryptocurrency. In some cases, victims were asked hundreds of thousands for data decryption. One of their most publicized victims is the Washinton DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). This attack likely pushed the threat actor into announcing its retirement from the ransomware business only to adopt another extortion model that did not include encryption....
Post a Comment
Read more

Microsoft Teams Phishing Attack Targets Office 365 Users

  Up to 50,000 Office 365 users are being targeted by a phishing campaign that purports to notify them of a “missed chat” from Microsoft Teams. Researchers are warning of a phishing campaign that pretends to be an automated message from Microsoft Teams. In reality, the attack aims to steal Office 365 recipients’ login credentials. Teams is Microsoft’s popular collaboration tool, which has particularly risen in popularity among remote workforces during the pandemic  — making it an attractive brand for attackers to impersonate. This particular campaign was sent to between 15,000 to 50,000 Office 365 users, according to researchers with Abnormal Security on Thursday. “Because Microsoft Teams is an instant-messaging service, recipients of this notification might be more apt to click on it so that they can respond quickly to whatever message they think they may have missed based on the notification,” said researchers in a Thursday analysis . The initial phishing email displays the name ...
Post a Comment
Read more