Pierluigi Paganini January 31, 2020

The United States appreciated European Union’s new rules on 5G networks, but pressed them to ban China’s Huawei technology.

The EU’s executive Commission this week presented a set of rules and technical measures aimed at reducing cybersecurity risks from the adoption of 5G networks. The Commission’s recommendations include blocking high-risk equipment suppliers from “critical and sensitive” components of 5G infrastructures, such as the core.

“As many critical services will depend on 5G, ensuring the security of our networks is of high strategic importance for the entire European Union,” the EU’s executive vice president overseeing digital strategy, Margrethe Vestager, said at a press briefing in Brussels.

The EU’s executive Commission did not explicitly mention companies, but a clear reference is to the Chinese firm Huawei.

On Tuesday, the British Government agreed to assign a limited role for Huawei in the country’s 5G network, but highlighted that “high risk vendors” would be excluded from the building of “sensitive” core infrastructure.

The decision to do not completely ban Huawei doesn’t satisfy the US Government that believe the decision will give a significant advantage to the Chinese Government.

“We call on our European allies and partners to implement the EU recommendations by adopting strong, risk-based security measures that exclude high-risk suppliers from all parts of their 5G networks,” reads a statement from the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Pompeo confirmed the intetention of the US Government in baning Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE because both were “subject to the direction of the Chinese Communist Party.”

“It is misguided to think that the risks associated with installing equipment from suppliers subject to control by authoritarian regimes with a track record of malign cyber behavior can be mitigated,” Pompeo added.

Anyway, we cannot underestimate that Huawei is a leading technology company with a deep knowledge of 5G network, and thanks to its commercial strategy is widely adopted in many states of the European Union.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – 5G, hacking)

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