Huawei’s situation in Europe has seen improvement after Germany’s federal cybersecurity agency stated it found no evidence that the company spies on customers.
“For such serious decisions like a ban, you need proof,” Arne Schönbohm, head of Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), told Spiegel.
Security concerns about Huawei have intensified as countries prepare for 5G network rollouts. The United States has been urging allies to exclude the Chinese vendor from their networks.
Some nations have already implemented bans, including the United States and Australia. Other countries—such as New Zealand, Japan, India, South Korea and several European states—have considered or are considering restrictions or added safeguards.
More broadly, concerns focus on Chinese telecom vendors because of the potential for state influence and a law that could require companies to assist with surveillance on request—claims Huawei has consistently rejected.
“We’ve never been asked to install a backdoor for espionage anywhere, there’s no law that forces us to do it, we never did it, and we never will,” a Huawei spokesperson said.
Those allegations have prompted some governments to ban Huawei 5G equipment outright or to adopt measures intended to mitigate potential risks.
In 2010, the UK established the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC), where intelligence experts from GCHQ examine Huawei’s equipment for security vulnerabilities.
Earlier this year, HCSEC reported new risks and indicated it could no longer fully guarantee that all risks to the UK’s infrastructure had been mitigated. The report said Huawei had been slow to address several of the concerns it raised.
A meeting earlier this month between Huawei executives and UK security officials resulted in an agreement that the company will change certain practices to improve security oversight.
Huawei agreed to submit a formal letter to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre outlining the measures it will take to address the identified concerns and to set out a clear timetable for implementation.
Positive feedback from Germany’s cybersecurity watchdog does not remove all of Huawei’s challenges in Europe. EU Commissioner for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip recently warned that the bloc should remain cautious about risks associated with network suppliers.
“We categorically reject any allegation that we might pose a security threat,” a Huawei spokesperson responded to those remarks. “Huawei has never been asked by any government to build any backdoors or interrupt any networks, and we would never tolerate such behaviour by any of our staff.”
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