Several Western Govts. Ban Lenovo Equipment From Sensitive Networks

renai42 writes "If you've been in the IT industry for a while, you'll know that Lenovo's ThinkPad brand has a strong reputation with large organisations for quality, dating back to the brand's pre-2005 ownership by IBM. However, all that may be set to change with the news that the defence agencies of key Western governments such as Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand have banned Lenovo gear from being used in sensitive areas, because of concerns that the Chinese vendor has been leaving back doors in its devices for the Chinese Government. No evidence has yet been presented to back the claims, but Lenovo remains locked out of sensitive areas of these governments. Is it fearmongering? Or is there some legitimate basis for the ban?"

Comments

Their loss

[AmiMoJo]

Thinkpads are very popular with people who need to do their own maintenance. They use them on the ISS for that very reason. Every part is replaceable and you can download a full service manual with excellent step-by-step illustrated instructions.

Sounds like fear of the boogyman and a bit of racism are really going to hurt the US in the long run.

Re:Their loss

[MickyTheIdiot]

Is it racism to be concerned that our military is using computer parts that can't (or won't) be produced at home?

If we had to go to "total war" tomorrow like we had to after Pearl Harbor I think we would be in pretty big trouble if our enemy was from the east and all of our sudden our constant shipping was gone. It we Americans are so damn expensive and corporations are at their height of greed and power we've pretty much forgotten how do that manufacturing.

Re:Their loss

[dintech]

I think the Chinese probably have a lot more to fear from using American technology than the reverse.

Re:Their loss

[moronoxyd]

Proven track record?
Please enlighten me and give me links to that proof of backdoors. (That's what this is about, not virii or trojans.)

All I heard on this matter are accusations without any proof.
On the other hand, we KNOW that the US is spying on everybody...

Re:Their loss

[Anonymous Coward]

PRISM: Microsoft, Google, Apple... Need I elaborate or is it sufficient to say that the US government is in the spying business and the Chinese will be doing themselves a favor by banning US products and services?

Re:Their loss

[tylikcat]

Well, and let's talk about the US record of viruses (as I believe that's better documented than anything else out there)...

Re: Their loss

[Anonymous Coward]

Uhhh, Stuxnet comes to mind

Re:Their loss

[moronoxyd]

You didn't really read my comment, did you?
I was explicitly asking for proof of backdoors, not attacks over the internet with trojans.

I don't doubt that the Chinese government is behind some cyber attacks. Just like the US government and/or their partners were behind Stuxnet and Duqu.

But here we are talking about compromised hardware. And while Western companies and governments have been talking about that for years, I haven't heard of any proof.

If somebody would find proof that any one Chinese company had in fact backdoors designed into their hardware, not only would that company not be able to make any business outside of China anymore, but many other Chinese companies would struggle as well.

So I have my doubts that they are that stupid.
Still, I might be wrong. So: Please share the proof about backdoors (!) in Chinese hardware.

Re:Their loss

[Kjella]

If both parties have too much to lose there won't be another war. That's a fortunate consequence of globalization.

Before WWII I'm sure you could have made many reasonable and credible arguments for why Germany would never attack France or why Japan would never attack the US that are equal or better to "globalization". Many wars have started small and escalated quickly and unpredictably, whether it's North and South Korea, Taiwan, those islands south of Japan or whatever one match can start a kindle that'll start a fire to put the world in flames. I mean it's not like anyone saw the US getting involved because a dictator started annexing a few areas around Germany. In retrospect you can say the Mutually Assured Destruction policy worked in the Cold War but during the Cuban missile crisis.it was a very close call.

Maybe your perspective is different but my country of Norway took the neutrality route in the 1930s, no military build-up, no signs of military aggression, we were seeking a position of neutrality and being a non-threat to everybody. What happened was the Nazis said "thank you very much" and invaded with minimal resistance. And today I see the same, with the NATO alliance and Russia being a shadow of its former military might we're running the defense with half a skeleton crew on outdated equipment, we're spending some money on elite units for operations abroad but the mass defense? We'd fall like a house of cards, all the money is bet on their not being any war in the first place.

Re:Their loss

[dl_sledding]

Agreed!

And, to go along with this, whose hardware *isn't* produced in China? So, why are we even arguing about it? If this wasn't a targeted attack against Lenovo by the US Gov't, wouldn't they ban *all* hardware made in the PRC, which includes Apple, Dell, etc.?

Besides, since Big Brother is so all-knowing, why wouldn't they just stop the conversation between the backdoor and the Chinese bad guys? I mean, they have the big brains in their IT departments, don't they? Shouldn't they be able to detect and stop all those naughty conversations? If they can capture, record, and filter all public conversations, can't they keep their own house protected well enough to block something so simple as a covert "E.T. call home"?

Kind of makes you wonder exactly what they are trying to accomplish (or deflect attention from) with this move... There's an ulterior motive, and another, more interesting, story here behind-the-scenes...

So instead?

[john.burton1765]

So I wonder which manufacturer that doesn't use Chinese components they'll use instead?

Re:So instead?

[SJHillman]

Having components from China is different from having the entire machine, or at least key parts that can phone home, from China is very different. They don't give a damn if your capacitors or even the entire DVD drive are from China.

China has limited leverage

[sjbe]

I'll make this one easy on you

Gee thanks. I'm really glad I have you to explain this to me since I merely have a master's degree in finance and am a certified accountant with 10 years experience in global sourcing. Good thing I have smart people like you to explain how currency trading works. [/sarcasm]

Defaulting on even a small amount of debt to China would collapse this system and US and world economy would not survive the fallout

The US doesn't have to default on the debt. That was the whole point. China will get paid in due time and they have very little leverage over the US regarding when and how. China bought that much US debt because they had to, not because they particularly wanted to. The notion that China now "owns" the US, or that they could take the US to some court over the matter is just nonsense. China (probably rightly) regards US debt as a safe investment but the China is in a much more precarious position than the US even without the exercise of some fiscal nuclear option.