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Australia Businesses China Communications Government Network Security Technology

Australia Bans Huawei, ZTE From Supplying Technology For Its 5G Network (techcrunch.com) 77

Posted by BeauHD from the national-security dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Australia has blocked Huawei and ZTE from providing equipment for its 5G network, which is set to launch commercially next year. In a tweet, Huawei stated that the Australian government told the company that both it and ZTE are banned from supplying 5G technology to the country, despite Huawei's assurances that it does not pose a threat to national security. Earlier today, the Australian government issued new security guidelines for 5G carriers. Although it did not mention Huawei, ZTE or China specifically, it did strongly hint at them by stating "the Government considers that the involvement of vendors who are likely to be subject to extrajudicial directions from foreign government that conflict with Australian law, may risk failure by the carrier to adequately protect a 5G network from unauthorized access or interference." In its new security guidelines, the Australian government stated that differences in the way 5G operates compared to previous network generations introduces new risks to national security. In particular, it noted the diminishing distinctions between the core network, where more sensitive functions like access control and data routing occur, and the edge, or radios that connect customer equipment, like laptops and mobile phones, to the core. Huawei Australia said in a statement: "We have been informed by the Govt that Huawei & ZTE have been banned from providing 5G technology to Australia. This is a extremely disappointing result for consumers. Huawei is a world leader in 5G. Has safely & securely delivered wireless technology in Aust for close to 15 yrs."
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Australia Bans Huawei, ZTE From Supplying Technology For Its 5G Network More

Australia Bans Huawei, ZTE From Supplying Technology For Its 5G Network

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  • Any Evidence?? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by pablo_max ( 626328 ) on Thursday August 23, 2018 @08:04AM (#57179578)

    I have heard a lot of people screaming about these two companies, but so far, no one has produced any evidence of wrong doing. At least not that I have read about.

    Is this just cold war scaremongering or is there actually something behind it.

    It seems like a political statement more than anything. Perhaps some protectionism for other network infrastructure providers. Huawei has dominated in LTE. It is actually hard to find a network configuration that is not Huawei at the moment.

    • Re: Any Evidence?? (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It is wise to not blindly trust a company that is based in the morally loose fascist communist country of China.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Any Evidence?? (Score:5, Informative)

      by jonwil ( 467024 ) on Thursday August 23, 2018 @08:33AM (#57179702)

      The problem is that the laws in China are such that at any time China could order Huawei or ZTE to use their installed gear to provide backdoors into western telecommunications networks. And if they say no all their top people will end up in the Chinese version of Federal Pound me in the A** Prison (which probably makes the US version look like a 5 star hotel) or in front of a firing squad.

      The western governments don't want to allow gear into their networks that could be opened up to the Chinese government and their version of the NSA at any time because (for reasons I cant understand) they think the Chinese care about what us Aussies are doing on our phones (anyone sending anything classified, sensitive, commercially valuable or otherwise worth stealing is going to be encrypting it or not using public 5G networks at all so I dont get what the Chinese are supposedly going to be able to steal if they have these backdoors)

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        The problem is that the laws in China are such that at any time China could order Huawei or ZTE to use their installed gear to provide backdoors into western telecommunications networks.

        Bah, the fucking PATRIOT Act allows the same goddamned thing.

        So why would anybody else in the world trust US technology any more than Chinese technology?

        Are we supposed to take on faith that America aren't assholes? Because I see no reason to believe that.

    • It seems like a political statement more than anything.

      This is the same political statement Australia has been sending out for the past 20 years:
      "We are the 51st State of America and the Feds told us to do something."

  • we only let america spy on us (Score:5, Insightful)

    by redback ( 15527 ) on Thursday August 23, 2018 @08:15AM (#57179622)

    We don't want china to spy on us, we only let america do that.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Australia has been in lockstep with the USA on national security for decades thanks to ANZUS. So we'll play by their rules, particularly as there's an American military intelligence base near Alice Springs. Assuming Pine Gap uses some sort of terrestrial communications in addition to satellite then Huawei and ZTE might pose a threat to US security if deployed in Australia.

        But the Aussie government hasn't yet tried to ban ZTE nor Huawei phones.

      • But the Americans are 100% friends to the hilt

        I guess it all depends on if one believes the CIA "stole" Harold Holt, or the Chinese "stole" Harold Holt.

        As for 100% friends, nah. 80% at most. The USA would have no qualms in informing the sitting PM of the week about the dirt they hold on him so they get their way with B2 bombers in Darwin and spy stations near Alice.

  • The banned companies don't concern me (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I'm more concerned about the companies which the government approves.

    BTW: this is the same government that less than a week ago proposed laws that would be more suitable in former East Germany [afr.com].

    Also, the same government which, a couple of years ago, required telecoms carriers log all data for 2 years. (At least /. is now SSL.)

  • Why not Cisco? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ArhcAngel ( 247594 ) on Thursday August 23, 2018 @08:20AM (#57179640)
    How many back doors have discovered in Cisco switches and routers in the last year? If you don't know they are in double digit territory.
    • You should have a browse through the CERT database some time. Last time I checked (earlier this year) there were over 360 advisories for hard coded credentials in Cisco products - and each advisory typically mentions multiple products.
      • I knew it was high...but WOW! I was just referencing all the ones found and reported on in just the last 12 months.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by Puls4r ( 724907 )
      Whatabout whatabout whatabout. Nice deflection. We're talking about Chinese products supply critical US infrastructure. Trying to change the topic to talk about US companies doesn't address the point at all - it just tries to redirect the conversation. Short version: we MUST not allow foreign nation-state corporations to supply critical US infrastructure.
      • I believe the conversation was about Australia. But nice deflection.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Puls4r ( 724907 )
          Ok. I admit I laughed. But the message should remain the same for any sovereign country. Don't let foreigners run your critical infrastructure. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

    • You don't understand. It's okay as long as a Chinese person isn't spying on us. America is an "ally"

  • It might be over blown now but if trade tensions rise then having critical equipment supplied by a potential adversary conceivably seems riskier. Then limit to a secondary supplier for which can still help overall competition and price. Politics and xenophobia playing its part too.

  • Remaining competitors (Score:5, Informative)

    by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Thursday August 23, 2018 @08:53AM (#57179792)

    If I remember 2017 numbers right on mobile infrastructure market, Huawei was the biggest with just below 30% of global market, with Ericsson right on its heels, followed by Nokia that had slightly below 25% and ZTE at below 15%. And Huawei's market share was growin while Ericsson's and Nokia's were shrinking.

    This is going to be another big win for Ericsson and Nokia it seems, following the similar trend in US recently.

    • Huawei and ZTE switching equipment numbers are heavily skewed by their home market i.e. selling into the chinese government

      Nokia and Ericsson are rightly seen as neutral compared to american firms

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

        First this isn't about switching equipment but radio towers and entirety of infrastructure. The actual switching hardware in that is typically done by 3rd party hardware afaik, outside some critical elements. The value addition these companies produce comes from everything else related to having the actual infrastructure. Everything from radio beam forming at the tower antenna to network coherence as a whole.

        And numbers wise, while true, this is fairly irrelevant in this scope. Chinese are not going to stop

  • 'Huawei stated that the Australian government told the company that both it and ZTE are banned from supplying 5G technology to the country, despite Huawei's assurances that it does not pose a threat to national security at the moment ."

    Fixed that for ya, Huawei!

    You're welcome

  • So, are they going to rely on domestic suppliers or are they going to rely on American suppliers? Cause if it's American suppliers, I've got some news for you regarding government backdoors...

  • Should have somethings like that when one of our dumb project manager decided to buy a shitload of Huawei DWDM NE. We had to isolate all the Huawei DWDMs last year because government here refuse that their data transit on those abberation.
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