Germany clocks that ripping out Huawei, ZTE network kit won't be cheap or easy
- Reference: 1679126946
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/03/18/germany_huawei_mobile/
- Source link:
The letter to the Bundestag lower house of parliament's economic committee, obtained by [1]Reuters , warns that "there is likely to be significant impact on the operation of mobile networks and the fulfillment of coverage requirements," if the country removes Chinese telecommunications technologies from its network.
Germany is one of several European countries whose carriers have widely deployed Chinese telecommunications equipment — particularly systems supplied by Huawei. Earlier this month, the Chinese embassy [2]estimated that Huawei equipment accounts for nearly 60 percent of Germany's network equipment.
[3]
While the US has mandated that US telecommunications and network service providers remove any Huawei or ZTE-made equipment from their networks as far back as 2020, Germany has waffled on whether to follow suit. The country is in the process of reviewing the technology stack used in the nation's networks.
[4]
[5]
According to the report, the ministry stopped short of putting a number on the total economic cost of such a decision. However, as the laws are written, carriers could end up footing the bill to replace the hardware.
[6]Lenovo ordered to pay $140M for InterDigital patents – sees this as a 'major win'
[7]Feds arrest and charge exiled Chinese billionaire over massive crypto fraud
[8]Chinese biz banned from buying US tech rent it instead
[9]60% of Germany's 5G network is Huawei, says Chinese embassy
As we saw in the US, a rip-and-replace program could end up costing billions. The FCC [10]reports that as of early 2022, US carriers had applied for $5.6 billion in reimbursements for removing Chinese made networking gear from their networks.
Huawei is one of the largest suppliers of 5G networking and telecommunications equipment. The company has made major inroads over the past decade thanks in part to [11]lower prices compared to competing equipment sellers. However, some — particularly in the US — have warned that the company's close affiliation with the Chinese government poses a substantial security risk.
The main concern being that Chinese intelligence services could force Huawei to place [12]back doors into their equipment allowing them to spy on foreign nations. Huawei has repeatedly rejected this and the Chinese embassy recently characterized the claims as an attempt to smear Huawei with trumped-up charges."
[13]
However, as more countries, [14]including the UK, move to nix Chinese vendors from their networks, pressure to do something could ultimately drive Germany to follow suit. ®
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[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/huawei-ban-would-have-significant-impact-german-mobile-network-ministry-2023-03-17/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/09/germany_5g_huawei/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZBWZ0xBG3pNJNPB123pIhwAAAAo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZBWZ0xBG3pNJNPB123pIhwAAAAo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZBWZ0xBG3pNJNPB123pIhwAAAAo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/17/lenovo_ordered_to_pay_1387m/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/17/miles_guo_charged/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/10/chinese_clouds_rent_banned_tech/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/09/germany_5g_huawei/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/07/secure_and_trusted_communications_reimbursement_program_overrun/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/14/huawei_own_os/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/12/us_huawei_backdoor/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZBWZ0xBG3pNJNPB123pIhwAAAAo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/13/uk_telcos_huawei_ban/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Needs A Re-write......
Properly vetted open-source solutions would go a long way to helping.
Not completely, as back doors can be hidden in the chips themselves, but it would make such remote interference a bit harder to do.
Footing The Bill
"However, as the laws are written, carriers customers could end up footing the bill to replace the hardware."
I'm not sure about the laws in question, but I doubt they protect the customers from increased charges as a consequence of the proposal.
I'm getting confused ...
Say the UK does rip out Huawei kit (for example). How does that play when the UK network has to meet another network which does use Huawei ? Surely the carried with the Huawei network is still capable of spilling secrets the UK network is trying to keep safe ?
Re: I'm getting confused ...
It depends upon what threats you are worried about. If your protocols are secure in themselves (i.e. working end-end encryption, etc) then the telco equipment can't see the contents no matter how they are routed and through who's equipment. But if you have control over the equipment in a given country, for example, you can use it for several obvious activities no mater what:
- Get the metadata on who is talking to who (and in the case of mobile phone networks where they have been), useful if you want to target specific individuals, identify who works at/with a specific company or gov department, etc.
- Copy encrypted data passing within that country so in 5-10 years time, or if other leaks / cryptanalysis breakthrough / etc happen, you might be able to decrypt it.
- Bring down comms if you enter any sort of conflict where business niceties go by the wind
Needs A Re-write......
Quote: "....warned that the company's close affiliation with the Chinese government poses a substantial security risk..."
New text needed: "...also warned that the Cisco company's close affiliation with the US government poses a substantial security risk...."
.....and of course that means ripping out nearly all of the internet IP infrastructure.......
.....what a good idea.......that way our "security" and "privacy" fears would be COMPLETELY eliminated!!!!
Just saying!!