As John Suffolk, Huawei's global cyber-security officer and a former chief information officer for the British government, told The Economist, "I can't work with ifs, buts and maybes."
That in itself is a problem and creates the second flaw with this report. The report focused on cyber vulnerabilities but has done nothing to make US telco networks safer. China may or may not be a source of risk but Huawei is not China. This investigation focused on two companies that are headquartered in China but turned a blind eye to the other major companies that are manufacturing, assembling and programming in China.
If they were truly concerned about the security of the US networks they would have focused on the fact all major telecommunications equipment companies such as Cisco Systems, or European companies such as Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson manufacture in China. In Australia, for instance, 53 per cent of all our telco equipment is imported from China.
Does the committee really expect us to believe that if the Chinese government were inclined to put vulnerabilities into the telco infrastructure, they would use only Huawei or ZTE? This is not a Dick Smith "buy local" campaign. If they did pursue such methods, they could just as easily use Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Ericsson or Nokia Siemens equipment as well.
Alcatel-Lucent's main Asian manufacturing plant is only a few kilometres down the road from Huawei's Shanghai campus; in fact, Alcatel-Lucent's factory is a joint venture, half-owned by the Chinese government. If the risk is real and China is the source of that risk, as outlined in the US report and the blocking of Huawei from the Australian National Broadband Network, then do they truly expect us to believe that these factories and workplaces are somehow not vulnerable?
Cyber threats are real and are not particular to China. All significant governments, organised crime, vigilante groups, terrorists and individual hackers pose risks to our telecommunications infrastructure. We need to get serious about working on solutions and policies to make our global networks safer. With technology advancing and changing every day, no single group, company or even country has all the answers. We need to work together and face the challenges together.
Exclusion will not work; in fact, I would argue, given the innovation and leadership coming from companies such as Huawei, it increases the risk. The committee's report failed to make US telecommunications networks safer but worked worryingly on the premise that we are in some sort of telco cold war with China.
Let's hope Australia can demonstrate some more productive solutions than old-fashioned protectionism.
