European Commission Urges EU Countries to Limit 5G Network Access for “High-Risk” Suppliers
The European Commission has urged EU member states to limit access to their 5G networks for suppliers of equipment that pose a high risk to cybersecurity. Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE are considered “much more dangerous” for the security of the European Union. This warning was issued within the framework of a cybersecurity 5G report, which disclosed that only three EU member states out of 27 have not adopted or are not going to adopt laws that enable them to enforce such restrictions. However, the report did not specify which countries are not following the recommendations of the European Commission.
Currently, only 10 out of 24 EU member states with the opportunity to exclude high-risk suppliers from their 5G networks have done so, according to Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner in the domestic market. The report stated that the current situation creates a “clear risk of maintaining dependence on suppliers with a high level of risk in the domestic market,” which potentially has significant negative consequences for the EU and its critical infrastructure.
Huawei has undergone an audit of its equipment by a special unit of the British cybersecurity and intelligence agency GCHQ since 2010. The company has emphasized that the audit has never detected backdoors, which are a stealthy way of accessing systems without detection. Huawei and ZTE are subject to US sanctions, which limit their access to American technology and software in the design and production of their products. This, according to GCHQ, makes control over these products more complex and even impossible.
In 2019, the US Ministry of Education imposed sanctions on Huawei Corporation, citing that the company’s activities were contradicting the interests of national security. As a result, enterprises in the United States are prohibited without a special license to export high-tech products to Huawei. Due to US sanctions, Huawei has replaced 13,000 components in its products, and over the past three years, 4,000 printed circuit boards have been redesigned.
Bart Grothus, a cybersecurity speaker in the European Parliament, believes that the problem with Huawei and ZTE is not in a hidden backdoor in their hardware or software. Instead, it is one update that could introduce a new backdoor. According to Grothus, the real issue lies in the connections of these companies with the Chinese government. Western fears regarding the risk represented by Chinese equipment suppliers are often expressed in the context of Beijing’s aggressive cyberespionage activity.