UPDATED 07:45 EDT / OCTOBER 10 2012

NEWS

Huawei Problems Pile Up With More Complaints

Under-fire Huawei and ZTE are attracting yet more negative press, this time in the form of a barrage of criticisms that has prompted even deeper investigation into the Chinese company’s business practices.

Reuters is reporting that the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which earlier this week warned US companies against doing business with the Chinese duo, labeling them as a potential security threat, has since received “dozens and dozens” of complaints. As a result, the committee is now said to be opening a second phase into its investigation.

The exact nature of the complaints has not been revealed, although a committee source told Reuters that many of them concern ex-employees suspicions of the two company’s hardware. In addition, a number of former customers of the two firms are also believed to have made complaints, with the bulk of them being directed at Huawei.

“I don’t think the companies should expect our attention to stop. The panel will be sure to follow up any new leads” the source told Reuters, on condition that his identity was withheld.

Indeed, Huawei are probably bracing themselves for exactly the opposite, and must be wondering where the next attack will come from after it was revealed that Canada has also signaled its mistrust of the company. Citing security concerns, the Canadian government announced on Wednesday that it may block Huawei’s bid to participate in a project to build a secure communications network. This follows an earlier decision by Australia to block the firm from bidding for contracts in its National Broadband Network – once again due to security fears.

Huawei and ZTE’s official response has been to scoff at the US allegations against them, with some even accusing the committee of undermining their credibility due to political motivations, but there are certainly plenty of risks to American companies that do use their hardware, if the committee’s accusations are true.

Brian Proffit of ReadWriteWeb outlined a number of specific threats faced by any company using Huawei or ZTE hardware, including: remote smartphone access that could threaten high-value individuals; remote access to servers that could compromise valuable data; exposure to cyberattacks; firewall breaches; and remote access/re-routing of network switches.

However the biggest concern by far is so-called ‘backdoor entry’,  the fear that Huawei’s and ZTE’s hardware may have somehow been left open for Chinese agents to gain access and intercept traffic or steal data for the government or competing companies at will.


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