Britain claims risk in using Huaweis 5G equipment can be mitigated

Huawei was accused of working with China’s government by the U.S., who said its equipment can be used to spy on Americans

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) of Britain has reportedly concluded that the British government would be able to mitigate the risks which will arise from deploying the equipment of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. in 5G networks.

Sources familiar with the matter suggested that NCSC’s conclusion may hold great significant among leaders of Europe.

Supposedly, if British have confidence in their ability to mitigate against national security threats, other countries could also provide assurance to their public and the U.S. administration that they are cautiously acting in the favor of allowing their telecom services providers to utilize Chinese components. However, they would need to take the kind of precautions which Britain recommends, sources mentioned.

Chinese network equipment providers Huawei and ZTE Corp have recently been accused by the U.S. of working at Chinese government’s bidding, citing the risk that their equipment can be used to spy on Americans. The firms have consistently denied any such claims.

Britain’s foreign intelligence service chief said earlier in the month that the country should not rely on a monopoly provider of equipment for new 5G mobile networks and also, there were no easy solutions regarding the use of Huawei.

In December, Chief Financial Officer of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada and could face probable extradition to the U.S. The daughter of Huawei’s founder, Meng was charged last month with wire fraud which violated U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Sources informed that although NCSC did not offer any direct comments on the reports about possible risk mitigation, it had reiterated previous concerns regarding the security and engineering capabilities of Huawei, which were made known during the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) oversight board in July.

NCSC has established the improvements Huawei is expected to make and the latest Annual HCSEC report would be published in the imminent future, sources confirmed.