Huawei is trustworthy, chief security officer says
Huawei is making a big effort to convince the world that the Chinese telecom giant is trustworthy. According to one of its top executives, it is not a perpetrator of cyberattacks.
“We have been trusted for the last 30 years in 170 countries,” said Huawei Technologies Chief Security Officer Andy Purdy during an exclusive interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on Friday. “There have been no major cybersecurity incidents involving Huawei in the world.”
Purdy said that the pressure on the company is largely due to the geopolitical dynamics of U.S.-China relations and the U.S. government's efforts to address the global risks of the rising power of China’s economy and military.
However, in Purdy’s opinion, “strict scrutiny” across the board is necessary to secure cyberspace.
“There needs to be a greater effort to address the risks from all technologies and all products,” he said.
But there have been a number of companies over the years that have reached settlements after suing Huawei, including Motorola Solutions, T-Mobile and Cisco.
Last year during an interview on FOX Business, Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown discussed a lawsuit that alleged Huawei was stealing technology through Chinese nationals who were employees.
“Huawei definitely stole trade secrets… and we sued, though they ‘subsequently settled,’” he told Bartiromo during an exclusive interview in December.
Purdy said the fact that they have faced some lawsuits in the past highlights what is taking place in the industry.
“We have resolved those issues and we’re moving forward,” he said, and he added that “the remaining issues we hope to solve in the next year or so.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week said that Huawei threatens the ability for Europe to work alongside the U.S. and vowed to avoid working with countries that use its technology.
“If a country adopts this and puts it in some of their critical information systems, we won’t be able to share information with them,” said Pompeo to Bartiromo. “In some cases there’s risk -- we won’t even be able to co-locate American resources, an American embassy and American military outpost.”
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In Purdy’s opinion Pompeo’s comments are part of the U.S. government's global campaign to deter companies and countries from using Huawei.
And despite this, Purdy said that Huawei supports addressing the risks in cyberspace and looks forward to working with the U.S. government and others
“There is at least five nations in the world that can virtually implant malicious functionality in products,” he said. “We as a nation — we and our allies -- need to do a better job of coming up with objective.”