The US Department of Trade is taking new steps to tighten measures against the American division of China Telecom. The reason is in fears that the company’s access to data through cloud and web services can be used to transmit information to Beijing.
According to The source reuters, the department sent a preliminary conclusion that the company’s activities in the United States threaten national security and provided 30 days to answer.
In 2021, the Federal Commission for Communications (FCC) banned the work of China Telecom Americas in the United States due to similar fears. In 2022, the commission also deprived the China Unicom license, and in 2019 rejected the China Mobile application for the provision of telecommunication services in the country. Despite the restrictions, Chinese companies continue to provide cloud services and routing Internet traffic, which gives them access to American users.
Washington is increasingly concerned about possible cyberats of Salt Typhoon, the purpose of which is to penetrate telecommunication companies and theft of call data. Senators say that the attack can be the largest hacker incident in the history of US telecommunications. In the summer, the Biden administration began the investigation the activities of China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom in the field of cloud and web services.
Against the background of events, the FCC put forward a proposal to strengthen the safety of Internet traffic routing. The central topic was the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) protocol, through the vulnerabilities of which, the China Telecom has already redirected the American Internet traffic six times. FCC noted that, despite the prohibitions, Chinese companies can continue to provide data centers for American users and called for additional measures to eliminate security threats.