{"id":1992,"date":"2019-11-21T12:56:12","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T12:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/insights\/?p=1992"},"modified":"2023-02-03T02:06:48","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T02:06:48","slug":"chinas-huawei-clones-are-greater-threat-to-national-security-than-huawei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/ta\/chinas-huawei-clones-are-greater-threat-to-national-security-than-huawei\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s Huawei Clones Are Greater Threat to National Security than Huawei"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Huawei,
Broadband Breakfast News, November 21, 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on Friday to virtually block Huawei\u2019s access to the U.S. market, but this rare bipartisan action only protects one element of America\u2019s digital infrastructure.\u00a0 In reality, the likeliest and most susceptible security vulnerabilities aren\u2019t well understood by policymakers, and we\u2019re at the beginning of a very long fight.<\/span><\/h6>\n
In the $2.4 trillion telecom sector, the dawn of 5G is more than a buzzword.\u00a0 It\u2019s truly a new era full of great promise, as well as great danger.\u00a0 But our policymakers\u2019 focus has only been on the big companies with name recognition, without attention paid to the less prominent ones that might pose much larger security risks.<\/span><\/h6>\n
Huawei and ZTE (another major Chinese manufacturer up for the FCC\u2019s vote, but which doesn\u2019t get the same publicity) are easy targets for the uninformed masses who fear all things China.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the national security threat from other\u00a0Chinese-subsidized<\/a><\/span>\u00a0and foreign-controlled telecom companies is potentially more vast and insidious than our leaders in Washington, DC understand and acknowledge.<\/span><\/h6>\n
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on Friday to virtually block Huawei\u2019s access to the U.S. market, but this rare bipartisan action only protects one element of America\u2019s digital infrastructure.\u00a0 In reality, the likeliest and most susceptible security vulnerabilities aren\u2019t well understood by policymakers, and we\u2019re at the beginning of a very long fight.<\/span><\/h6>\n
In the $2.4 trillion telecom sector, the dawn of 5G is more than a buzzword.\u00a0 It\u2019s truly a new era full of great promise, as well as great danger.\u00a0 But our policymakers\u2019 focus has only been on the big companies with name recognition, without attention paid to the less prominent ones that might pose much larger security risks.<\/span><\/h6>\n
Huawei and ZTE (another major Chinese manufacturer up for the FCC\u2019s vote, but which doesn\u2019t get the same publicity) are easy targets for the uninformed masses who fear all things China.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the national security threat from other\u00a0Chinese-subsidized<\/a><\/span>\u00a0and foreign-controlled telecom companies is potentially more vast and insidious than our leaders in Washington, DC understand and acknowledge.<\/span><\/h6>\n
There\u2019s been no mention by politicians, in news media or on social media about the security risks posed by devices or cellular modules \u2013 the mini-computers that make up the brains of the Internet of Things (IoT).\u00a0 There will be<\/span> 43 billion in the world by 2023<\/a><\/span>, and consequently they\u2019re the favored target for hackers.\u00a0 Unlike phones or chipsets, these modules are untraceable once embedded in devices.\u00a0 These elements are so critical in connected infrastructure that<\/span>\u00a0If a hostile state or player gains control<\/a><\/span>\u00a0with intent to attack the U.S., it\u2019s far more horrific to imagine the scale of destruction than with a compromised smartphone or social media account.<\/span><\/h6>\n
Unauthorized access to your iPhone or Facebook enables spying.\u00a0 But access to an IoT device enables direct action in the real world.\u00a0 Shutting off power to Washington, DC.\u00a0 Turning off traffic lights in Manhattan.\u00a0 Pumping the breaks on autonomous cars in San Francisco.\u00a0 Stopping heat in winter to homes in Minnesota.\u00a0 Interfering with medical devices in Florida.<\/span><\/h6>\n
Forget the compromised security of smartphones.\u00a0 A compromised module \u2013 one of dozens that\u2019ll be in every American home within the next few years \u2013 could mean literal life or death.<\/span><\/h6>\n
Five of the top ten IoT module manufacturers are Chinese, and they\u00a0rake in 71 percent of the industry\u2019s revenue<\/a><\/span>\u00a0using the same government backing and Huawei playbook to stifle competition in the U.S. and Europe.\u00a0 China\u2019s\u00a0heavy investment<\/a><\/span>\u00a0in IoT in the country \u2013 coupled with considerable\u00a0government subsidies<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u2013 allow Sunsea, Fibocom and Quectel to be extremely price-competitive in global markets.<\/span><\/h6>\n
Industry insiders have been vocal in sharing stories of these companies slashing module prices below reasonable production costs.\u00a0 Driving out competition with a questionable pricing structure \u2013 and the consequent potential for future manipulation of affordability and availability \u2013 adds another layer to the concerns regarding 5G security.<\/span><\/h6>\n
It\u2019s arguable that Chinese vendors Sunsea, Fibocom and Quectel are clones of Huawei, especially since they\u2019ve effectively cornered the global market for the most critical components in the IoT.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s important for politicians and security experts to glance up from their research on Huawei to better understand the implications of U.S. reliance on Chinese IoT manufacturers.<\/span><\/h6>\n
The U.S. government shouldn\u2019t ban a company just for being China-based, nor target one just for being in the business of telecommunications or technology.\u00a0 Not every tech company in China is a stooge for the government with unreserved, evil intent.\u00a0 In fact, companies like Quectel and Fibocom thrive in good part due to legitimate innovation, amazing engineers and good quality.<\/span><\/h6>\n
Nonetheless, the FCC will vote on Friday on Huawei and ZTE.\u00a0 We must hope that this is just a first salvo in making 5G and the Internet of Things secure, with more investigation and possible action to come.\u00a0 If the Trump Administration truly wants to protect the American people from foreign interference via smart devices, the FCC and Congress need to be more strategic in looking at potential threats beyond the flashiest names.<\/span><\/h6>\n
Meanwhile, If you want to read more articles like this and get an up-to-date analysis of the latest mobile and tech industry news, sign-up for our monthly newsletter at\u00a0TantraAnalyst.com\/Newsletter<\/a>,<\/span> or listen to our\u00a0Tantra\u2019s Mantra podcast<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on Friday to virtually block Huawei\u2019s access to the U.S. market, but this rare bipartisan action only protects one element of America\u2019s digital infrastructure.\u00a0 In reality, the likeliest and most susceptible security vulnerabilities aren\u2019t well understood by policymakers, and we\u2019re at the beginning of a very long fight. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-compute-iot","post_format-post-format-image"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tantraanalyst.com\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}