Calls for bans on Chinese CCTV makers Hikvision, Dahua expand
- Reference: 1657038606
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/07/05/uk_ban_hikvision_dahua/
- Source link:
Organized by [1]campaign group Big Brother Watch , the letter said that partly Chinese state-owned CCTV manufacturers Hikvision and Dahua should be banned from sale or use in the UK.
Both manufacturers are banned from trading in the US, owing both to security concerns and alleged evidence of their use in so-called "re-education" camps in Xinjiang, where China is [2]accused of detaining an estimated 1 million Uyghurs and subjecting them to abuse, torture, and forced sterilization, the campaigners said.
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UK politicians intent on signing the letter include Conservative Members of Parliament David Davis, Steve Baker, Damian Green, and the Tory peer Lord Bethell. The list includes leading Labour human rights figures Baronesses Chakrabarti and Kennedy, and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey. The Scottish National Party is represented by foreign affairs spokesperson Alyn Smith. Green MP Caroline Lucas also backed the call.
[4]
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In total 67 parliamentarians said they "condemn [Hikvision and Dahua's] involvement" in what they called "technology-enabled human rights abuses in China" and called for a ban on the tech being sold or used in the UK. They also called for "an independent national review of the scale, capabilities, ethics and rights impact of modern CCTV in the UK."
For its part, Hikvision last year [6]denied any wrongdoing in an exchange with the UK's Surveillance Camera Commissioner, stating:
You asked if we could from the outset explain whether we accept that crimes are being committed against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region. As a global enterprise and manufacturer, we believe Hikvision is not a competent arbiter to decide on this matter. Moreover, it is beyond our capability to make a judgement on this matter, particularly against a backdrop where the debate surrounding the Xinjiang issue comes with clashing geopolitical views.
The ethics of state surveillance
New research shows that UK public bodies are awarding significant contracts to procure the controversial technology.
The MPs' statement follows a six-month investigation involving thousands of Freedom of Information requests by Big Brother Watch, which found that the majority of public bodies use CCTV cameras made by Hikvision or Dahua, including 73 percent of councils across the UK, 57 percent of secondary schools in England, six out of 10 NHS Trusts, as well as universities and police forces.
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Meanwhile, in central government, the Home Office and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have Hikvision cameras visibly in use on the front of their buildings, Big Brother Watch claimed.
Yet official Cabinet Office guidance says UK companies "should consider the ethical implications of engaging with China on emerging technologies."
Neither Hikvision nor Dahua actually operate the cameras that are sold in the UK, but the ethics of data-gathering by the state more generally, regardless of vendor, is also up for debate.
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Big Brother Watch said its research has found that dozens of public bodies have the AI-equipped cameras capable of facial detection, gender recognition, and behavioral analysis, and offer advanced features such as identifying people having physical fights or discerning the identity of somebody wearing a face mask.
[9]Leaked: List of police, govt, uni orgs in Clearview AI's facial-recognition trials
[10]US grounds investors in Chinese drone maker DJI over 'Xinjiang human rights abuses'
[11]US tweaks requirement for investors to dump Chinese tech stocks
[12]Intel 'regrets' offending China with letter telling suppliers to avoid Xinjiang
David Davis MP said: "This technology comes equipped with advance surveillance capabilities such as facial recognition, person tracking and gender identification. These pose a significant threat to civil liberties in our country.
"But in addition to the privacy concerns, these companies, Hikvision and Dahua, are Chinese state-owned companies, raising urgent questions over whether they also pose a threat to national security.
"The US has already blacklisted the companies. We need to be in step with our international partners, and should also look to ban invasive and oppressive technology from these firms."
Last year, [13]the Foreign Affairs Committee published a report calling for surveillance companies like Hikvision to be banned from the UK.
"The Committee recommends that the government forbids surveillance companies like Hikvision – which provide surveillance equipment to the detention camps – from operating in the UK. Hikvision cameras currently operate throughout the UK, in leisure centres and even schools," it said. ®
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[1] https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/2022/07/mps-call-on-government-to-ban-chinese-cctv-in-the-uk/
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22278037
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YsS0gSbysiyEgnd6mvFi@AAAAIA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YsS0gSbysiyEgnd6mvFi@AAAAIA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YsS0gSbysiyEgnd6mvFi@AAAAIA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/20/hikvision_surveillance_camera_commissioner_uighur_controversy/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YsS0gSbysiyEgnd6mvFi@AAAAIA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YsS0gSbysiyEgnd6mvFi@AAAAIA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/29/in_brief_ai/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/17/usa_bars_investment_in_eight_chinese_tech_companies/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/07/us_china_shares_ban_eased/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/23/intel_regrets_offending_china_with_xianjing_opinion/
[13] https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/78/foreign-affairs-committee/news/156425/foreign-affairs-committee-publish-report-never-again-the-uks-responsibility-to-act-on-atrocities-in-xinjiang-and-beyond/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I wouldn’t touch Hikvision with a barge pole after discovering they had a hard coded username and password that can’t be disabled.
This was a few years ago now so they may have improved, but watching a friend sit in the pub, find a camera on shodan and log in was quite eye opening.
I believe it was a support back door, probably well intentioned as the level of security in the IoT spade was poor back then. (Who hasn’t had to explain to an over eager manager why it sounds useful but is really really dumb…)
Still doesn’t help the many many cameras still deployed though.
Glorious whataboutism and deflection
Xi is pleased with you. Your social score has been credited with 100 points. All Glory to the Pooh Bear!
A large part of your business involves selling this tat, I take it?
"There is a reason Hikvision are used by a great many people, companies and local authorities - because their products are pretty damned good at what they do."
Hikvision are used because the cameras are very cheap and retailed at many shops and smaller companies specialising in security camera installations had an easy upgrade path from older coax cameras because they could just plug cameras and DVR's into company networks and it was instantly visible with the camera app through internet, due to UPNP and the DVR's transferring all the data through manufacturers own systems for easy access. Maybe with default credentials as well. Scary shit but most small companies don't know better. Or care.
Both Hikvision and Dahua products have been assimilated into botnets due to their vulnerabilities.
The hardware itself isn't anything peculiar - like with any other cameras the IQ is all about the image sensor and optics, and with interchangeable optics it's only the CCD that matters.
I looked at Dahuas about 5 years ago last time, and their only solution to use the DVR's with a web browser was via Internet Explorer and an unsigned Active-X plugin! Also, all communications with the NVR was unencrypted, so you could just sniff the credentials.
If you need to replace legacy (coax) camera systems, the Dahua HDCVI cameras are incredible value for money, and a drop-in replacement for getting FullHD, because CAT cabling would be expensive or even impossible with >100m runs. (ethernet over coax extenders do exist, however)
Dahua NVR's have contained hard coded credentials.
These CCTV products should only be used in closed circuits (=separate VLAN with no internet access and firewalled), and then they're secure(-ish) to use, but the usability will still be poor.
Of course, no matter what the manufacturer is, you should always separate security cameras in their own VLANs.
All Chinese CCTV systems connect back to China
Have been tearing apart systems for years. Haven't seen a single system that doesn't connect back to the motherland. Plus the vulnerabilities are fairly simple to exploit. All that is needed is a registry in China for state hackers to use as a jumping-off point to download surveillance software.
Re: All Chinese CCTV systems connect back to China
Care to post some links to evidence supporting those claims?
And Microsoft et al don't?
Ah but they aren't Chinese are they and neither is the CIA.
Re: All Chinese CCTV systems connect back to China
Let's be clear.
This suggested ban has ZERO to do with any imagined or real security issues with the products. It has everythng to do with a political argument about the uses that some the products are put to by one, admittedly very big, customer - the Chinese state.
If you don't think that is the case, pleae provide links to anything where it mentions "security issues with the products".
Why aren't there any calls to ban American products associated with firearms because the USA seems very reluctant to do anything about the serious issues they have with gun ownership/abuse/mass slaughtering of children over there?
Odd that....
Re: All Chinese CCTV systems connect back to China
maybe because china is the only country that locked up over a million people for their land, has been selling their Hair (well documented) and other parts - look it up. This isn't some insane historical thing from hundreds or thousands of years ago - it is right now.
I've got zero faith in anything gov.uk says anymore...
Several days ago a report was published called for the banning of facial recognition and biometric profiling...
Yet, all these self-sanctimonious assholes sat in Westminster, who are meant to be dealing with our own problems, they spew this bullshit, and completely ignore the fact that the same shit is now happening in this country.
MP's I suspect this site above your IQ level (quite an achievement), but if you read this... stop looking abroad for amusement, I assure, we have enough issues in the UK to do that... Now ask the Civil Service to give you dumbed down version of events, and do what your paid for!
Re: I've got zero faith in anything gov.uk says anymore...
And besides, they have far more pressing issues to deal with here in the UK.
So they should get off their over paid backsides and deal with those instead of wasting time on what China is doing with cameras.
Could it be because they think it will help distract from the utterly shite job they are doing here in the UK?
Re: I've got zero faith in anything gov.uk says anymore...
Thats exactly what is it...
Shits not going so well at home, so they shout "squirrel". Sometimes, I'm ashamed to be British, cause so many of us fall for it, even the people who be considered the brightest!
Re: I've got zero faith in anything gov.uk says anymore...
Eh? It's not gov.uk though is it, it's opposition parties & back benchers. Almost all the signatories to this letter are all the same people and organisations who've been calling for the banning of facial recognition and biometric profiling for a long time. Linking it to the more recent concern on human rights abuses in China is a tactic to highlight the danger of being complacent about civil liberties here, and to gain more widespread support.
meh...
Two things... One is I've never heard anything good about Hikvision on other more technical forums. So, I guess the Barge Pole factor is in effect here. Two, If this is coming from clueless leaches, with vested interests, wow, what a shot in the dark...?!
Good
Lets be clear its not the Chinese people that are the issue its the CCP. Due to what the CCP have access to no doubt they have access to the cameras. They are just hoping at some point they are installed in "sensitive areas". Its all about soft power for the CCP. Quite a lot of evidence for it on Twitter, YouTube and other social media. Just look up The Great Translation on Twitter for this.
Trouble is, I quite like their cameras. We had shit ones throughout our sites and unfortunately the cheapest setup when hkivision ones. We're also looking at a dedicated server setup for managing them which actually looked quite good and reliable. Just annoying all run by China, no doubt with access for the CCP.
Final thought is this has already been revealed with TikTok. Admitting that TikTok USA data is available to access and has been access by some Chinese employees. No doubt those employees will be mates of the CCP.
Get ready for the wumaos to come along.
I had a Laview system - relabeled Hikvision
The NVR and cameras were easy to setup and configure, and while it had a "cloud" option you didn't have to use it. I had it on a private network that could only be accessed via VPN, so even if there were backdoors like hardcoded passwords it wouldn't affect me.
The only thing I didn't like about it was a couple of annoying bugs and the complete lack of updates. Not sure if that lack was Laview or Hikvision's fault, but for a system with NVR (not including HDD) and 6 color HD PoE cameras for $600 almost a decade ago it was hard to beat the price.
Why not ban cars as they can be used to kill people. Or hammers.
There is a reason Hikvision are used by a great many people, companies and local authorities - because their products are pretty damned good at what they do.
This smacks of protectionism. I wonder how many "vested interests" are involved in the calling for this ban because their own products are crap in comparison?