Original title : Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report Dupe : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26842733 ( 65 comments )
Also discussed indirectly here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26843068 (235 comments)
Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report
11–20 of 148 posts
Re: Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report
#12The spin on this situation is dumb. What it amounts to is that KPN hired Huawei on a contract basis to administer its equipment, and as a result those contract administrators had... administrator privileges on the Huawei equipment. Now, obviously telco equipment can be used for spying, but there's absolutely no allegation of wrongdoing here at all. If there is any finger to point, it's at KPN for hiring an untrusted…
> Now, obviously telco equipment can be used for spying, but there's absolutely no allegation of wrongdoing here at all.
That's incorrect. The report made by Capgemini stated that there were clear boundaries as to what Huawei was allowed to access but they violated those boundaries. Apparently also a list of numbers under surveillance by Dutch intelligence was found in possession of Huawei. Which was clearly well beyond those boundaries.
Just like a sysadmin can read the mail of the boss doesn't mean your allowed to.
Re: Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report
#13Original title : Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report Dupe : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26842733 ( 65 comments )
Also discussed indirectly here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26843068 (235 comments)
Yes, I believe that submission was triggered by submission I linked to.
Re: Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report
#14I could have hacked the electric grid. Just cause someone could have done something doesn't mean that they did. This is pandering to political bias.
Depending on what you mean by 'hacked' that's still newsworthy. In this article 'wiretapped' means that they had uncontrolled and unlimited access to all conversations. The problem isn't so much that it could have happened but that it might have happened.
Every potential access or potential hack is newsworthy then. That’s about a million articles a day then. Which would mean it is not newsworthy then. Everything is a potential this or potential that by the reasoning.
Re: Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report
#15I "could have" wiretapped KPN when I worked in the networks department.
Without any evidence that any wiretaps actually occurred, I'm afraid this is just fearmongering...
Re: Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report
#16So there is no story, but a potential story on a potential (fill in the blanks) So you outsourced some services as many companies do and failed to keep tabs on it, just like many companies do. Forgetting to audit outsourced work is extremely prevalent. A report by Capgemini, a leading Western supplier for outsourced personnel to telecommuncations companies. No conflict of interest there.
> So there is no story, but a potential story on a potential
For what it's worth, GDPR fines have been handed out for missing access restrictions, e.g. for sensitive data not having or checking audit logging and applying 2FA. Though I do agree it makes for a more lousy news story than if it had happened.
Re: Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report
#17The spin on this situation is dumb. What it amounts to is that KPN hired Huawei on a contract basis to administer its equipment, and as a result those contract administrators had... administrator privileges on the Huawei equipment. Now, obviously telco equipment can be used for spying, but there's absolutely no allegation of wrongdoing here at all. If there is any finger to point, it's at KPN for hiring an untrusted…
I feel we need to read all these stories with a skeptical eye because, frankly, Huawei's become a political football, and there is a very strong motivation to cast events in the most unfavorable light possible by officials who are working backwards from the conclusion. Perhaps they do have some kind of spying master plan but I have found a lot of the fanfare for these stories hasn't held up to scrutiny.
Re: Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report
#18The spin on this situation is dumb. What it amounts to is that KPN hired Huawei on a contract basis to administer its equipment, and as a result those contract administrators had... administrator privileges on the Huawei equipment. Now, obviously telco equipment can be used for spying, but there's absolutely no allegation of wrongdoing here at all. If there is any finger to point, it's at KPN for hiring an untrusted…
> Now, obviously telco equipment can be used for spying, but there's absolutely no allegation of wrongdoing here at all. That's incorrect. The report made by Capgemini stated that there were clear boundaries as to what Huawei was allowed to access but they violated those boundaries. Apparently also a list of numbers under surveillance by Dutch intelligence was found in possession of Huawei. Which was clearly well bey…
Though I can't read the actual report, this article does not support your claims.
>Apparently also a list of numbers under surveillance by Dutch intelligence was found in possession of Huawei. Which was clearly well beyond those boundaries
Wouldn't the ones running the network need to know which numbers were under surveillance to provide the intelligence agency access?
Re: Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report
#19NSA tapped German Chancellery for decades, WikiLeaks claims : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/08/nsa-tapped-g...
Supposedly, that did actually happen.
Re: Huawei was able to eavesdrop on Dutch mobile network KPN: Report
#20This is getting silly. Huawei is the most prominent Chinese company and because of the economic war, you get such speculative articles.
And a few days ago, Cisco was found to have a bug in their routers for small businesses that lead to remote code execution. https://portswigger.net/daily-swig/cisco-router-flaws-left-s...