Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei can apparently access telecom networks through backdoors “designed for use by law enforcement,” according to US officials.

Companies manufacturing telecom equipment are required by US law to build backdoors for government authorities to tap into the networks. These backdoors are not accessible themselves to the companies without approval given by the network operator, and only law-enforcement officials or officials authorized by the carriers are allowed access, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

It is through these backdoors that, United States officials say, Huawei would be able to conduct espionage for the Chinese government - a capability the company has apparently had for over a decade. 

National security adviser Robert O’Brien said that the US has “evidence that Huawei has the capability secretly to access sensitive and personal information in systems it maintains and sells around the world,” with another unnamed US official stating that “Huawei does not disclose this covert access to its local customers, or the host nation national-security agencies.” 

However, US officials did not say whether they have seen Huawei using this access, or provided details about the alleged backdoors, which have apparently been in existence since 2009 when 4G was being developed.

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Huawei denied the allegations. Huawei said it “has never and will never do anything that would compromise or endanger the security of networks and data of its clients. We emphatically reject these latest allegations. Again, groundless accusations are being repeated without providing any kind of concrete evidence.”

Justification for the US government’s stance against Huawei remains unclear, especially as some US officials have reportedly used that lack of evidence as reason to be more concerned. This is compounded by the confusing decision to keep Huawei phones out of the US and deny them access to Google’s services, something other countries have not done. While Huawei’s latest handsets are still launching globally, and finally making it to markets, how the company will be affected by these latest accusations remains to be seen.

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