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US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

arstechnica.com

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Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#81

Post by syshum »

gruez wrote: post #32
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #23

> Telecom-equipment makers who sell products to carriers "are required by law to build into their hardware ways for authorities to access the networks for lawful purposes," but they "are also required to build equipment in such a way that the manufacturer can't get access without the consent of the network operator," the Journal wrote. I love this quote. The US is essentially complaining that Huawei has access to the…

>The US is essentially complaining that Huawei has access to the backdoor channels that only the US government was supposed to have. How is surprising? The defining characteristic of a nation state is that it has a monopoly on violence within its borders. Having a monopoly on intercepting telecom traffic is a logical consequence of that. For other countries though, yeah I'd prefer if neither China nor US have backdoo…

as a US Resident, China has no authority to murder me or put me in a cage like the US Government does.

So if I had to choose I would prefer china over the NSA, Of course neither is the best option but .....

if I lived in China the inverse would be true

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#82

Post by cjfd »

pc86 wrote: post #29
cjfd wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US, I suppose.... The thing with back doors is that others might also find them so it is quite unsafe in any case. Also, the future is unpredictable so who says the US is going to continue to be more-or-less an ally and China is going to continue to not be one?

> so who says the US is going to continue to be more-or-less an ally and China is going to continue to not be one? Geopolitics is much less unpredictable than "the future." Even the current administration is not so short-sighted to alienate the US to the point of having no powerful allies. If Europe is not considered an ally (it is, not "more or less," it 100% is), where would the US turn? Even if you take a scenario…

One could ask why the US and european countries are allies. I think it is because both are technologically advanced, both are rich, both are societies with human rights, both are democratic. (Relatively speaking, at least.) These things can change. Now that I name four factors it may sounds like a lot would need to change. But the first two as well as the second two are closely related. And at some point the former two are also related to the latter two. If China wants to keeps developing it will at some point need to improve its human rights situation as well.

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#83

Post by gdy »

kube-system wrote: post #21
baybal2 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After NATO would be gone, they will be allies no longer

Even if that is ever the case, US interests will still be way more aligned with Finland and Sweden than China.

How so?

For one thing, Swedes are less and less excited by the stream of Middle Eastern migrants caused by American adventures there.

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#84

Post by pbhjpbhj »

alasdair_ wrote: post #72
ChrisSD wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The British response has been to still go ahead with using Huawei for potentially over 30% of their non-core infrastructure. In any case, my point is not that they aren't plausible reasons why they might not make any proof public. My point is that they aren't above using those plausible reasons to propagate disinformation. So their statements are meaningless to us (the public) because it's impossible to discern truth…

> The British response has been to still go ahead with using Huawei for potentially over 30% of their non-core infrastructure. The British badly need to negotiate pst-Brexit trade deals with all major powers. Pissing off the CCP before the negotiations won’t help the UK’s plans.

Nor will pissing off USA, which presumably is why they timed the issue carefully when any failure in trade will make the biggest mark on the public view of post-Brexit trade potential.

Like 'you know how your mobile phone system works quite well, let us help ruin that for you by messing with it politically', great.

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#85

Post by throwaway17_17 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #73
ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

c. They have sources saying as such but have not discovered the backdoor itself. d. Admitting how they found the backdoor would reveal other issues (a source in the pipeline, or their own backdoor in something Huawei made use of). And probably e-z too.

Hey, I like this game .... e. they know Huawei have backdoor(s) because their mole put them in, so the USA could use them. They've not succeeded in getting a backdoor in 5G infrastructure, so they're ready to burn the old backdoor, to discredit Huawei (and win big on the markets) and to get countries to take USA based products on which there are backdoors in! What we can be pretty sure of, as Trump's involved in pres…

I wouldn't say your 'e' is at tin-foil hat level. But your assertion that since Trump is president any attempt to establish that Huawei is flawed from a security perspective is some 'corrupt' plot by Trump to benefit him financially is pure political imagination. Go ahead and take issues with Trump, his policies, his words, his actions, I don't care, but please do not pretend like just because Trump is president that magically the PRC and companies which are essentially controlled by its government are some kind of benign actors. Trump and has taken a hard-line against anything China since he ran in 2015, his anti-Huawei is very much in line with that stance. Also, Trump was pretty clear he wanted an American first economic policy, which makes it obvious he would be anti-expansion of any Chinese technological products.

TR;DL Trump being president has not a thing to do with whether or not Huawei and the PRC are attempting to infiltrate the network and data infrastructure of the world at large.

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#86

Post by pbhjpbhj »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #66

I'm usually impressed with HN comments, but this thread is currently dominated by insubstantiated conspiratorial mongering against American institutions.

They started it! Perhaps if they presented some substance people would have more to go on. Do you think anything about USA appears trustable at the moment to those outside?

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#88

Post by [deleted] »

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #68
ancorevard wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'd prefer if neither China nor US have backdoor access." So would I, but having lived in both countries, one of the two governments is decidedly more evil than the other.

Well, you could think about it this way: its better to possibly leak data to a foreign interest if they don't work well with your country. Sure, they may have some data, but they wont share it.

[deleted]

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#89

Post by sam_lowry_ »

ancorevard wrote: post #47
gruez wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The US is essentially complaining that Huawei has access to the backdoor channels that only the US government was supposed to have. How is surprising? The defining characteristic of a nation state is that it has a monopoly on violence within its borders. Having a monopoly on intercepting telecom traffic is a logical consequence of that. For other countries though, yeah I'd prefer if neither China nor US have backdoo…

"I'd prefer if neither China nor US have backdoor access." So would I, but having lived in both countries, one of the two governments is decidedly more evil than the other.

Judging by the number of wars it started in the last century... it's definitely the American.

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#90

Post by makomk »

gruez wrote: post #32
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #23

> Telecom-equipment makers who sell products to carriers "are required by law to build into their hardware ways for authorities to access the networks for lawful purposes," but they "are also required to build equipment in such a way that the manufacturer can't get access without the consent of the network operator," the Journal wrote. I love this quote. The US is essentially complaining that Huawei has access to the…

>The US is essentially complaining that Huawei has access to the backdoor channels that only the US government was supposed to have. How is surprising? The defining characteristic of a nation state is that it has a monopoly on violence within its borders. Having a monopoly on intercepting telecom traffic is a logical consequence of that. For other countries though, yeah I'd prefer if neither China nor US have backdoo…

In practice, we're not just talking about the US backdooring telecoms systems within their own borders. They were caught red-handed compromising exactly these lawful access systems in the European allies they're now leaning on not to use Huawei telecom systems in order to tap their politicians' phones.
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