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The Pentagon Bans Huawei, ZTE Phones From Retail Stores On Military Bases (theverge.com)
The Pentagon is ordering retail outlets on U.S. military bases to stop selling Huawei and ZTE smartphones, citing security risks. "Huawei and ZTE devices may pose an unacceptable risk to the department's personnel, information and mission," a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal. "In light of this information, it was not prudent for the department's exchanges to continue selling them." The Verge reports: U.S. military members can still buy Huawei and ZTE devices for personal use from other stores, as there's no outright ban on that for now. But the spokesperson elaborated that the Pentagon is considering whether it should send out a military-wide advisory about the devices. U.S. government officials have said that China could order its manufacturers to create backdoors for spying in their devices, although both Huawei and ZTE have denied the possibility. An anonymous source told the WSJ that military leaders are wary that Beijing could use ZTE and Huawei devices to locate soldiers' exact coordinates and track their movements. Huawei responded to the news in a statement to The Verge: "Huawei's products are sold in 170 countries worldwide and meet the highest standards of security, privacy and engineering in every country we operate globally including the U.S. We remain committed to openness and transparency in everything we do and want to be clear that no government has ever asked us compromise the security or integrity of any of our networks or devices."
The Nazis banned the Jews from playing in any of their reindeer games. :(
Really? I thought the US government was going hammer-and-tongs on every tech company trying to back door their encryption.
What guarantee is there that other brands/models don't pose security risks as well? How does one know that Google, Samsung, Apple, aren't mole-ridden? All it takes is one deliberate, hidden 'bug'.
The USA wants to ensure that the only backdoors are theirs.
It is important for the paranoid letter spaghetti agencies to be able to track, trace and intercept everyone in the USA because you are all potential enemies of the state.
The flip side of this is that US technology should not be trusted any more than Chinese technology.
U.S. government officials have said that China could order its manufacturers to create backdoors for spying in their devices, although both Huawei and ZTE have denied the possibility.
It may be true that these Chinese companies do not currently implement government-mandated backdoors in their products, and it may be true that they truly would resist such government mandates. However, the assertion that such coercion is not possible is not believable. It's not believable for US companies, and it's not believable for Chinese companies.
Lets say I'm a software engineer for some handset company mostly doing low level stuff (drivers/kernels/etc) I'm pretty familiar with the code base but pretty clueless on encryption. If I decided to peruse the code looking for backdoors, how hard would it be? I'm not expecting backdoor.NSA() or anything like that, but would it look to me like a bug I might fix spontaneously (ok, submit bug report, email to whomever asking it be assigned to me, fix problem, wait for it to be assigned to me, take ownership of bug, check in, close bug. But you know what I mean).
Of course the US knows that China could order their domestic corporations to put back doors in their products. They know from long experience just how easy it is to slip a back door into products and standards.
Thing is, if I were a US citizen, I'd far rather have a Huwei product. Actually, as a Canadian I think I still would rather own a Huwei. At least I can probably trust the NSA doesn't have its greasy mitts inside one of those (or, at least, there's a better chance of it). There are daily stories of strange and unusual things happening to people at the border because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some database has their phone as having been in close proximity to some person of interest to US intelligence and suddenly they are locked in a room with no phones, often no clothes, and definitely no recourse, until they cough up answers that US officials like.
I think that may be the core of the issue right there...
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I just ordered a Huawai phone, an Honor 7x. It's the hottest cheapo phone out there right now.
I don't work for the DOD or at the Pentagon but still... I'm explaining all of this to my relatives in case I "disappear".
Good move by the military. Aside from stealing US technology, harvesting organs of political prisoners and killing aind imprisoning opponents, China is a great country. IF you are comparing the US to China at a minimum your are an idiot at most a paid Chinese troll. Don't forget, top Chinese officials have funneled their money and sent their families to live and work in the US.
"no government has ever asked us compromise the security or integrity of any of our networks or devices."
But one government TOLD us...
Huawei's statement is laughable in its absurdity. They don't even provide source code for firmware in most cases. If you can't produce RFY-certified devices, then you certainly don't even approach the highest standards.
When you refuse to put back doors in your hardware for the NSA....
I would prefer if the army fought its wars by phone anyway, we just need Niantic to implement a PvP mode.
Time for the government to put up or shut up with its exact and explicit concerns. If they're sitting on intel that Chinese phone companies aren't acting proper, then shame on my government.
You have obviously missed the big chains pulling them from the shelves at the request of the government?
No, not 'banning' them, just the usual quiet in the background secret deals to, you know, ban them.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/30/16950122/verizon-refuses-huawei-phone-att-espionage-cybersecurity-fears
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/22/17151186/best-buy-huawei-smartphone-china
Of course its a bit of a toss up as to the real reason - it is because they wont install the US backdoors, or because the US is protecting Apple? probably safe to assume both.
of known safe phones, you know, the phones only the NSA listens to and collects metadata on
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Full loot PvP. Let's see who has the expensive phones, now....
Would you expect any military to allow its members to use comms that are literally manufactured by their enemy's government?
Since the Chinese have become the official enemy of the US military, when can we expect the Mother of All Wars against the Middle Kingdom, the homeland of those Enemy Chinese?
I'd rather be spied on by the Chinese, than an American 3-letter agency. At a minimum, the Chinese can't arrest you, or extradite you to China if you go on vacation.
This Sig does not Exist.
Since pretty much every phone (and most other electronics) are manufactured in China I really don't understand the logic here. They make things for Apple, Google, Cisco, Dell, Microsoft, ad nauseum. They ARE the manufacturer so ZTE and Huawei don't even need to ask or know about it at all. I'm sure there are other companies like Foxconn too that make just about everything and slap other brand's labels on them.
Sure. No government. Just a political party...oh wait they're the same, never mind.
What about the computing and networking infrastructure?
Can they really be so naive to think that computing and network gear was not the first thing that was bugged?