Ciaran Martin, UK’s cybersecurity chief, rebuffs US on Huawei risk
- Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Canada are among US allies that have either banned or are reviewing whether to allow Huawei equipment in their networks
Amid strong US pressure on its allies to exclude Huawei from upcoming 5G networks due to national security concerns, Ciaran Martin, head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), went on stage in Brussels on Wednesday and told the world – in no uncertain terms – that the UK could handle the risks.
“Because of our 15 years of dealings with [Huawei] and 10 years of a formally agreed mitigation strategy which involves detailed provision of information, we have a wealth of understanding of the company,” Martin said in a speech at the Cybersec Brussels Leaders’ Foresight forum.
“And, based on our hard-headed assessment of risk and our detailed knowledge of how networks work, we are putting in place our own plans for helping our operators to manage these risks.”
Martin is the chief executive of London-headquartered NCSC, the British authority on cybersecurity and an arm of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the country’s signals intelligence agency.
His comments in Brussels essentially represent a stance that says despite intelligence from the US provided to the UK as part of the Five Eyes alliance, Britain has not seen enough to warrant a complete ban on Huawei in the country.
Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Canada are among US allies that have either banned or are reviewing whether to allow Huawei equipment to be installed in their telecoms networks. The US contends that Huawei's equipment could be used for spying purposes for the Chinese government, a claim that Huawei has vehemently denied.
