Huawei Says Banning It Can't Stop China From Spying Other Countries

Huawei Technologies USA chief security officer Andy Purdy says that worrying about the company being used by the Chinese government for spying doesn’t address the broader issue of governments spying without consent, which already happens.

This statement was made when Purdy was commenting on the ongoing geopolitical tensions between the US and China, the detainment of two Canadian nationals in China, and the allegations that Huawei’s data is handled by state hands.

Purdy said:

“There are at least five nations of the world that have the ability to virtually implant hidden functionality and malware, in hardware and software. So the fact that that's the case, blocking us is not going to address that larger issue. That larger issue exists in the global ecosystem.”

When Purdy was asked how Huawei can make sure past events where security researchers found backdoors in Huawei technology wouldn’t happen again, Purdy turned to the broader issue of governments spying. He referenced 2013 reports, which pointed out that the National Security Agency tapped Cisco products.

“The situation about backdoors in Cisco products. The question was, well, did Cisco give them permission? Or did the U.S. government hack in? My point is, I don't know. In a way, it doesn't matter.”

He suggested concentrating on managing the risks of backdoors by using third-party mechanisms and independent monitoring that can indicate there aren’t any backdoors in products. In addition, he said that equipment should be supported even after it’s deployed.

Purdy also referred to the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, saying that they haven’t seen what has happened regarding facts or the adjudication or resolution.

Whatever Purdy said, true or not, reasonable or not, it seems to me that he’s trying to draw attention from the one fact that Huawei as used by the Chinese government as backdoors for spying.

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