Germany to examine China-made kit in its 5G networks over security concerns

The German government is examining all Chinese technology in the country's 5G networks amid concerns about national security. The move follows reports last month that Berlin was planning to ban technology from Huawei and ZTE and even require telcos to replace kit already deployed. This latest development in the German 5G saga …

[Paul Crawford]

it has been estimated that Huawei kit accounts for nearly 60 percent of Germany's 5G network infrastructure, although this figure came from the Chinese embassy in Berlin.

Well they should know :)

[Lars]

A waste of money, perhaps

I can understand if countries stop importing Huawei and ZTE hardware but I doubt there is much intelligence in ripping out well functioning equipment before it has to be replaced anyway if it's found reliable, that is.

That money went to China anyway years ago.

It would make Nokia and Ericsson happy one has to assume though.

[ThatOne]

Re: A waste of money, perhaps

> It would make Nokia and Ericsson happy one has to assume though.

Which is probably the point here. Lobbying money well spent indeed...

[Lars]

Re: A waste of money, perhaps

@ThatOne

I would claim it's all about Uncle Sam.

[Zippy´s Sausage Factory]

Re: A waste of money, perhaps

It depends whether you can prove the equipment is compromised and is being used as surveillance tools by a foreign power. If you can't, there's no point. But if you can, you'd be silly to keep it any longer than necessary.

The big question here is whether they've done any work to answer any of the questions you'd need to ask before you designate it as spy kit. If they haven't then how do we know whether it was worth the effort in the first place?

[Paul Crawford]

Re: A waste of money, perhaps

It is not just "Is it being used?" but also "Could it be remotely changed in times of conflict?"

[Sparkus]

that's about right for Germany

make a determination about something critical

study it for a year, determine a course of action

shelf the determination as politically untenable

wait for a change in government

let the prior determination slip back out into the public awareness

bury the action needed in some other legacy program as risk reduction

implement 30% of the original determination, issue a report to the Bundestag, let attached and associated bureaucrats retire

[Real Ale is Best]

It occurs to me...

It occurs to me that China could well have caused more disruption to the West by creating a rumour that Huawei kit is snooping on traffic without having to go to the trouble of doing so.

[bo111]

Lessons learnt from Russia's gas dependency?

[Will Godfrey]

Idiots

On the one hand they say Chinese kit is a security risk as they might be snooping.

On the other hand they say they need back doors into end-to-end encryption.

[Potemkine!]

For sure, Germany is right to be worried about snooping.

If there's any proof, then Chinese devices should be removed. However, replacing them with US made ones wouldn't be a smart move.

[Spazturtle]

"However, replacing them with US made ones wouldn't be a smart move."

What US ones? The other two companies that make 5G equipment are both European.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Spazturtle - Yeah but

if those companies will ever want to do business in the US or try to avoid being locked out from doing business with US partners, their equipment will have to comply with certain requirements from some US national security agencies. This is perhaps where the Chinese companies have failed or to better put it, they were forced to fail.

I can not exclude the idea of Chinese telecom kit being used for spying even if no proof has ever been shown, however US spying mobile phones of German rulers is a certitude.

In the end, Germany had the choice between being spied by US or by China. Considering their long time dependence on the US, Germany couldn't do otherwise.