US says Huawei maintains secret backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

According to the Wall Street Journal report, the U.S. officials say they have evidence that Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks.

“We have evidence that Huawei has the capability secretly to access sensitive and personal information in systems it maintains and sells around the world,” US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien told the Journal.

The US kept the intelligence highly classified until late last year, when American officials provided details to allies including the UK and Germany, according to officials from the three countries. That was a tactical turnabout by the US, which in the past had argued that it didn’t need to produce hard evidence of the threat it says Huawei poses to nations’ security- The Journal.

US officials say that Huawei has violated these laws, which are enforced in multiple countries, the Journal wrote:

US officials say Huawei has built equipment that secretly preserves the manufacturer’s ability to access networks through these interfaces without the carriers’ knowledge. The officials didn’t provide details of where they believe Huawei is able [to] access networks. Other manufacturers don’t have the same ability, they said.

“No Huawei employee is allowed to access the network without an explicit approval from the network operator,” a Huawei official said, according to the Journal.

Source: WSJ