Wednesday, October 17, 2012

White House probe finds no evidence of Huawei spying for China, but 'poor security practices' are a concern

Huawei

A couple weeks back, a U.S. Congressional report suggested that Huawei, because of influence from the Chinese government, posed a potential espionage risk. The panel strongly encouraged companies to find another vendor for their networking equipment, and that using Huawei's gear put customer data, intellectual property, and national security at risk.

Today, information obtained by Reuters suggests that this may not be the case. The White House has had a presidential probe in place for the past 18 months, and it's findings show that there is no clear evidence that Huawei is sending off sensitive data to China, or anyone else.

There is still cause for alarm though, as some experts suggest that major security holes make Huawei's equipment more vulnerable to outside attack, and warn that these security holes could have been planted by Huawei as a backdoor for exploitation. Conversely, others seem sure the security issues are a result of "sloppy coding and poor procedures" rather than a direct attempt to sabotage the equipment.

In the end, what matters is that companies purchasing expensive networking gear spend time and money to get the equipment fully vetted and the software inspected to ensure its safety. Huawei may not be spying for China, but if their equipment is riddled with holes and bugs it's probably best not to use it.

Cyber security is a real issue, and it's always evolving. We can only hope that the good guys evolve as fast as the bad guys do. 

Source: Reuters



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/QT6vcvsW08I/story01.htm

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