Wall Street Journal: US has shared evidence of Huawei espionage with Germany and UK

According to The Wall Street Journal, the US government has evidence that Huawei has access to mobile networks through backdoors in its equipment. That evidence was recently shared with Germany and the United Kingdom.

Robert O’Brien, the US national security adviser, told The Wall Street Journal that the government has evidence that Huawei is secretly accessing sensitive data and personal information through systems it sells and maintains worldwide. The US is said to have first noticed this in 2009 with 4G equipment, but government officials the paper spoke to would not confirm whether the US has also observed Huawei using the backdoors.

The evidence is said to have been kept secret for a long time, but according to newspaper informants, the US government provided details to allies, including Germany and the United Kingdom, last year. The evidence would show that Huawei provided its equipment with the ability to access networks without the knowledge of the providers deploying the equipment. Other manufacturers would not have such capabilities.

The US has long accused Huawei of espionage and has therefore banned the Chinese manufacturer’s network equipment. The US also urges other countries not to use Huawei equipment when building new 5G networks. The US has never publicly substantiated its claims of Huawei espionage with evidence and argues that it does not need to. Huawei denies spying or unauthorized access through its equipment.