Huawei is the biggest telecom equipment supplier in the world, and its equipment is present in the network of almost all countries in the globe. However, the past few months have been particularly trying for the company as it was banned from supplying equipment to American telecom operators after the US authorities accused the company of spying for the Chinese state. In addition to that, the US also alerted key allies regarding the danger, and the company now faces more trouble in other markets. 5G networks are being built in most countries at the moment, and Huawei was supposed to be the major equipment supplier, however, it could turn into a bit of a nightmare for the company.
In a fresh development, one of the United Kingdom’s leading cybersecurity experts has stated that Huawei’s engineering practices are shoddy. Due to that, the company could be banned from supplying its equipment to networks that are located inside Westminster, the political centre of the country. Additionally, it could be banned from other sites as well, which are classified as being sensitive. Dr. Dan Levy, who is one of the leading professionals at the Government Communications Headquarters (GHCQ) was speaking in a television programme when he made these comments.
It should be noted that the GHCQ are currently probing whether Huawei’s network equipment is perfectly secure or not and it is believed that it will release its report at some point next month. The findings of the report could be a maker or break situation for Huawei, as the company could be banned from the UK altogether if it is found to be a cybersecurity risk in the report.
Levy stated that there are issues with Huawei’s products and it could expose the UK to cybersecurity threats. He went on to stated that the GHCQ is far from convinced by what they have seen of Huawei’s products. He said, “The security in Huawei is like nothing else – it’s engineering like it’s back in the year 2000 – it’s very, very shoddy. We’ve seen nothing to give us any confidence that the transformation programme is going to do what they say it’s going to do.” This comes at a time when Huawei is also facing troubles in Germany, another of its bigger markets and it remains to be seen how the company tackles these issues in the months to come.
