Canadian government confirms Huawei equipment tests: report

Canada’s federal government has confirmed that it regularly tests Huawei telecom equipment for security vulnerabilities.

According to a September 7th, 2018 Globe and Mail report, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) said that it tests and evaluates “designated equipment and services considered for use on Canadian 3G and 4G/LTE networks, including Huawei.”

The CSE’s comments come in the wake of comments made by John Lord, Huawei’s Australian chairman, in which he said that the company has facilities in both the U.K. and Canada where Huawei works with “security-cleared testing personnel” to vet its equipment.

Scott Bradley, Huawei Canada’s vice president, told the Globe that Lord’s comments regarding Canadian facilities were inaccurate.

Instead, Bradley stated that Huawei’s equipment is tested in Canada in a program overseen by the CSE.

“This program is unique to Canada and utilizes independent Canadian evaluators under the guidance of Canadian operators and the Communications Security Establishment to verify all networking equipment sold in Canada,” said Bradley, in an interview with the Globe.

“As part of Huawei’s contractual agreements to operators, Huawei pays into a fund used to compensate these independent evaluators.”

MobileSyrup has reached out to both Huawei Canada and the CSE for comment. This story will be updated with a response.

In spite of the fact that Huawei’s smartphones are among the most popular in the world, the company has spent much of 2018 fending off security allegations from U.S. carriers and the U.S. government.

Verizon and AT&T — the largest and second-largest wireless service providers in the U.S. — both dropped support for Huawei devices in January 2018.

Two-months-later, the Globe published a report in which three former Canadian spymasters suggested that the Canadian government should cut ties with Huawei.

Huawei is currently working with both Telus and Bell to establish 5G network technology in Canada.

It’s also worth noting that Canada’s three largest carriers — Rogers, Bell and Telus — all continue to stock Huawei smartphones, despite the security concerns espoused by Canada’s immediate neighbour to the south.

Source: Globe and Mail

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