Chinese tech company Huawei has been under fire recently in the U.S. over security concerns, but it's the U.K. that is now raising the alarm of "significant" security flaws in the company's products. In a new report published this week by the U.K.'s Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Center (HCSEC) (via CNBC), the group found "significant technical issues have been identified in Huawei's engineering processes, leading to new risks in the UK telecommunications networks."
Further, the report states that Huawei has made "no material progress" in addressing issues raised in its previous 2018 report.
"The Oversight Board advises that it will be difficult to appropriately risk-manage future products in the context of UK deployments, until the underlying defects in Huawei's software engineering and cyber security processes are remediated" the 47-page report said in a summary of its findings. "Overall, the Oversight Board can only provide limited assurance that all risks to UK national security from Huawei's involvement in the UK's critical networks can be sufficiently mitigated long-term."
The HCSEC doesn't recommend a ban on Huawei's telecommunications equipment, which may be pivotal as the infrastructure for 5G begins to roll out across the globe. Further, the U.K.'s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) stated that it "does not believe that the defects identified are a result of Chinese state interference."
In a statement to CNBC, Huawei said it takes the findings "very seriously" and that "the issues identified in the OB (oversight board) report provide vital input for the ongoing transformation of our software engineering capabilities."
The report comes as Huawei is facing increased scrutiny from governments around the globe. The U.S. government enacted a ban on Huawei on Huawei networking equipment last year, naming it as a potential national security threat. Huawei has since responded by suing the U.S. government to overturn the ban. Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was also arrested in Canada late last year (opens in new tab) as the U.S. seeks to extradite her under charges of fraud.
Australia has also enforced a ban on Huawei networking equipment over concerns that the Chinese government could use it to hack the country's power grid.
