UK chides Huawei for equipment security flaws, but rules out Chinese state interference
- Government-led watchdog says it can provide only ‘limited assurance’ to manage security risks of Huawei gear installed in the UK
Huawei Technologies poses a major risk to the UK’s telecommunications networks because of the company’s failure to fix security flaws found in its equipment and software, according to a report on Thursday by a government-led watchdog, which ruled out Chinese state interference as the cause of those defects.
The fifth annual report from the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) Oversight Board, a body set up to monitor products supplied by the Shenzhen-based firm to UK carriers, said “further significant technical issues have been identified in Huawei’s engineering processes”, which could lead to new risks in the country’s telecoms networks.
“The oversight board continues to be able to provide only limited assurance that the long-term security risks can be managed in the Huawei equipment currently deployed in the UK,” the report said.
It described the findings as being “about basic engineering competence and cybersecurity hygiene that give rise to vulnerabilities that are capable of being exploited by a range of actors”.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which leads the HCSEC oversight board, “does not believe that the defects identified are a result of Chinese state interference”, according to the 46-page report.
