US
Democratic candidates running in an upcoming election have been
warned against using devices made by Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE
because they pose a security risk.
Reuters reported
the warning came from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), who’s
chief security officer Bob Lord told candidates running in elections
taking place in November it was important for party and campaign
workers to be vigilant about the two vendors’ products.
The
US government has stepped up scrutiny against Chinese companies this
year, pressuring US companies to strip back activities with
Huawei and ZTE and to stop selling their products. The Trump
administration also blocked a deal for AT&T to sell Huawei
devices in the US.
An
email to Democratic candidates by Lord stated: “Please make sure
you are not using or purchasing ZTE or Huawei devices anywhere within
your staff – for personal or work-related use.”
The
US Department of Defence already stopped selling mobile phones and
modems by the Chinese companies on its military bases, while Federal
Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai also shared concerns that
devices made by Huawei carried spying threats.
US
authorities are also in the process of investigating whether Huawei
violated trade restrictions covering Iran. The government held a
similar probe into ZTE, which caused the Chinese vendor to shutdown
major parts of its business, before relaunching operations after
reaching a settlement.
Huawei
is also facing increased security scrutiny in the UK over new
allegations it is using ageing software sold by a US-based
company. Reuters reported
the British government is concerned about Huawei’s use of Wind
River Systems’ VxWorks operating system, which sources said could
be subject to new security risks from 2020, leaving networks in the
UK vulnerable to attack.
The
Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) oversight board, set
up in 2014, recently raised concerns around “technical issues”
in the vendor’s engineering processes.
No comments:
Post a Comment