Huawei Technologies is the world’s second-largest supplier of telecommunications network equipment, making it a player, at least in some capacity, in industry efforts to keep networks secure.
However, as the Wall Street Journal reported late last year, the results of a congressional investigation into the Chinese company indicated to lawmakers that Huawei may have been operating in violation of United States law. Furthermore, because Huawei’s equipment could foreseeably be used for spying on Americans, the company posed a national security risk, the investigation concluded.
That article went on to say:
[T]he committee recommends that the United States block acquisitions or mergers involving the two companies through the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S. . . . [and] that the U.S. government avoid using equipment from the firms, and that U.S. companies seek alternative vendors for telecommunications equipment.
Huawei denied the allegations; however, the company has effectively been removed from the United States market.
Last month, Huawei released a cyber white paper, the WSJ reports, detailing its opinion on key cyber issues and recommended responses. Huawei’s senior vice president and global cyber security officer John Suffolk then sat down with the WSJ to discuss these points. Here are some interesting tidbits from that Q&A.
WSJ: Are there any patterns or trends in security threats?
Mr. Suffolk: People who monitor cyber threats have identified a very distinct move onto mobile-based threats. As you connect more devices into your corporate or personal networks, they open up another avenue for people to come in and do whatever they want to do to your data and systems. There has been a significant increase in mobile-based malware. . . .
. . .
WSJ: What is the biggest hurdle for setting up global cyber security standards?
Mr. Suffolk: . . . [T]he technology industry doesn’t want mandatory global standards. Because governments and big enterprises are not using their buying power to really demand the highest level of security from network equipment suppliers, vendors are not putting their investment dollars into security unless they really need to. . . .
Governments are big spenders in the information technology industry, so if many governments got together and demanded certain security standards from all vendors, the whole industry will then shift to those new standards. And once the governments do that, enterprise clients will follow and do the same.
The WSJ also asks about and Suffolk responds to questions about Huawei as a threat to United States national security as well as China’s influential role on the company’s operations.
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