Huawei's "poor quality" work suggests a ban on Westminster

A senior cyber security official said Huawei's "poor quality" engineering practices meant that his mobile network equipment could be banned from Westminster and other sensitive areas of the UK.

Dr. Ian Levy, of GCHQ, told BBC Panorama that the Chinese telecom giant was also excluded from what he described as the "brain" of 5G networks.

The British government is expected to reveal in May whether it will limit or even ban the company's 5G technology.

Huawei said that would solve the problems.

Last month, a company security review supported by GCHQ revealed that it would be difficult to manage the risks badociated with Huawei's future products until the cybersecurity processes are corrected.

He added that technical problems with the company 's approach to software development had led to vulnerabilities in existing products, which in some cases had not been corrected, although they were not. they have been identified in previous versions.

In his first TV interview, the head of the company's telecommunications equipment division said he planned to spend more than the $ 2 billion (£ 1.5 billion) already committed to a "program of transformation "to tackle the problems identified.

Multimedia playback is not supported on your device

"We hope to turn this challenge into an opportunity for the future," said Ryan Ding, general manager of Huawei's Carrier Group.

"I believe that if we can carry out this program as planned, Huawei will become the leading player in the telecommunications sector in terms of security and reliability."

"Really bad quality"

However, Mr. Levy – the technical director of GCHQ's National Cybersecurity Center – said he had not yet been convinced.

"The security in Huawei is unlike any other, it is conceived as if it was dating back to the year 2000 – it is very, very bad.

"We have not seen anything that can make us believe that the transformation program is going to do what it says it's going to do."

He added that "geographical restrictions – maybe there is no Huawei radio [equipment] in Westminster "was now an option for ministers to consider.

Multimedia playback is not supported on your device

Mobile UK – a group representing Vodafone, BT, O2 and Three – warned that preventing Huawei from participating in the deployment of 5G in the UK could cost the country's economy up to 6, £ 8 billion and further delay the launch of its next generation networks to two years.

Those who already use Huawei hardware have chosen to keep it outside the core of their networks, where tasks such as verifying device IDs and choosing voice and data routing take place.

EE used Huawei's hardware in its 3G and 4G kernels, but BT is currently deleting it after the company's purchase.

However, the industry wants to use Huawei's radio access network (RAN) equipment, including its antennas and base stations. These allow individual devices to wirelessly connect to their mobile data networks via radio signals transmitted by the waves.

Communication on paper

The United States is worried about any deployment of Huawei's products.

"You will never know when the Chinese government will decide to force Huawei (…) to do things that would be in the interest of the Communist Party, to spy on the United States," said Mike Conaway, member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Last year, the Republican drafted a bill banning the US government from dealing with companies using the company's equipment. It was later adapted to be part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which was promulgated by President Trump.

This had the effect of dissuading the country's main telecommunication networks from working with Huawei. Chinese society is currently suing the US government, saying the ruling is unconstitutional.

The Congressman is now heading for the United Kingdom.

"It is obviously important to maintain the excellent relations between the United Kingdom and the United States – the English-speaking countries," Conaway told Panorama.

"But as part of this work, we will have to badess the kind of risks we would have to share secrets … that hide Huawei equipment, Huawei networks.

"We can still share things from the old school, you know, paper back .. But, being able to communicate electronically, through the Huawei gear, Huawei networks, would be at best risky."

This is a question that runs through political divisions.

Mark Warner, Democrat and Deputy Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also warned against allowing Huawei to join the 5G networks in the UK.

"I think the consequences could be dramatic," he said.

"I think there could be a real problem with the ability to fully share the information, because of the fear that the network that would underlie 5G in the UK, is potentially vulnerable."

Dr. Levy, of GCHQ, however, downplayed these fears, saying that efforts to scramble communications digitally implied that even if someone was able to intercept them, they would only have one. " gobbledygook. "

"Any sensitive element emanating from a company, government or defense is encrypted independently on the network," he explained. "You do not trust the network to protect you, you protect yourself."

He added that, despite the discovery of vulnerabilities in some elements of the Huawei kit, "we do not believe that the information we report is the result of the malfeasance of the Chinese state".

Misinformed?

For its part, Huawei said that the Chinese government would never ask him to install backdoors or other vulnerabilities in the systems of his foreign customers, and even if such a request was made, he would refuse.

And Mr. Ding rejected suggestions that this commitment would be set aside if the United States and China went to war.

"We have a country here that uses virtually no Huawei equipment and does not even know if our 5G equipment is square or round, yet it has consistently expressed its security concerns about Huawei," he said. he declared.

"I do not want to speculate about whether they have other goals with this kind of talk, I would rather spend my limited time making better products."

Panorama: Can we trust Huawei? will be broadcast on BBC One at 20:30 BST on Monday.