US Tells Germany To Stop Using Huawei Equipment Or Lose Some Intelligence Access (theverge.com)

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the United States has told Germany to drop Huawei from its future plans or risk losing access to some U.S. intelligence. The U.S. says the Chinese company's equipment could be used for espionage -- a concern that Huawei says is unfounded. "The Trump administration has been pressing allies to end their relationships with Huawei, but Germany, moving ahead with its plans, has not moved to ban the company from its networks," reports The Verge. From the report: According to the Journal, a letter sent from the U.S. Ambassador to Germany warns the country that the U.S. will stop sharing some secrets if it allows Huawei to work on its next-generation 5G infrastructure. The letter, according to the Journal, argues that network security can't be effectively managed by audits of equipment or software. While the U.S. plans to continue sharing intelligence with Germany regardless, the Journal reports, officials plan to curtail the scope of that information if Huawei equipment is used in German infrastructure.

Comments

Re: Buy American or else!

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice country you've got there, would be a shame if something were to happen to it...

Recommendations?

[patrick.kursawe]

What else? Maybe Cisco? https://www.tomshardware.com/n...

Re:Ok, bye bye intelligence access

[freax]

This is obviously true. We shouldn't be naive about the Chinese.

And I agree. Let's get the CCC involved. Let's use reproducible builds for the source code. Let's put the SoCs and chips under an electron microscope. Let's let the EU institutions fund such analysis and research in foreign hardware.

We have plenty of money and if not we can let the ECB print the money for this.

However. Let's not let the Americans tell us with whom we do business and with whom we don't.

We will do business with China.

Full stop.

Why?

[idji]

Why doesn't anyone talk about the NSA's known actions to install physical and software backdoors in American hardware, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..., and that Huawei has never been shown to do that?
This looks like a Trump MAGA Tamtrum to protect Cisco, etc, and wage a useless trade ware.

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why doesn't anyone talk about the NSA's ...

They are. Just like you. But this is not about NSA is it?

Re: Hello Chinese agent

[freax]

Please don't save us and stay home. Spend your American tax dollars on bridges and education.

Like we do.

You need it.

Of course!

[bickerdyke]

Of course we should consider that Huawai may be forced to include backdoors.

On the other hand, with Cisco, we know it.

And if the US wants to start the blackmailing game, I'm sure they can call Cisco and make sure that their prices are.... compareable. Or if you have anything that may hint that Huawai indeed build in backdoors: Come up with some proof. Or at least an effing hint. Or clue. Or inkling... anything that is better than mere claim.

I'd even go as far and say that we'd be willing to believe any actual evidence (better to be spied on by the US than China) but as long there isn't anything like that the only sensible way to go is to put any possible vendor through a strict security check.

Re:Of course!

[bobbied]

Better the enemy you know than the one you don't.

So, why do you think it's a good idea to pay China for equipment that likely has back doors, or the possibility to add them sometime in the future by a company that's owned by a hostile state? Cisco may have well documented security issues, but they are not owned and controlled by a country that is hostile. Huawai would be in position to put a back door into any of their equipment with a firmware update, even if they don't exist now. Why take that chance? And how would you be able to know if they did? I seriously doubt they'd let you build the code from source...

Besides, Cisco and Huawai are not the only two choices here. There are more.

The issue here is who is behind the company. Huawai is clearly state run, in a thinly veiled way. Clearly Huawai would do as the government requires, and if that was to hide backdoors in their firmware updates, you can bet they'd do it. Cisco? Not so much.

Re:The other alternative is even dumber.

[bobbied]

But we'll go with the batshit crazy stupid version you prefer, then: USA tells germany that if they move to 5G that the USA will stop sharing anything with them from their intel (though they will still demand that Germany hand over stuff to them, even if it is via a proxy state like the UK).

And it's Germany's right to not share information with the USA if they don't find the relationship beneficial to them.

Look, I get why the USA is saying this. It's not about pushing USA build equipment, it's about preserving security on the networks that carry the terabytes of secret information passing between the countries. The USA doesn't want one specific manufacturer's equipment in that network. I get why.