A million. This is the number of cyberattacks that the Chinese firm Huawei faces every day, according to Vice President John Suffolk. The purpose of these attacks would be to learn more about the 5G that the manufacturer is developing.
A month earlier, in September 2019, Huawei was ready to share information about its 5G, a wireless technology that the company is developing for a fee. It has even said it is ready to share its technology with the United States, while Huawei has been been in the blacklist since May. The company already has partnerships related to this 5G with about fifty operators, in thirty different countries.
But according to John Suffolk, hackers would try to obtain this technology by other means, illegal this time. Attempts to steal confidential data would occur through email attacks carrying viruses. In total, the brand says to count a million cyberattacks daily.
The United States among hackers?
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The statement said cyberattacks come from abroad as well as from inside Chinese territory, while admitting they do not know their precise origins. The administration of US President Donald Trump is mentioned without being directly accused, the president had promised earlier in October “cyberattacks to penetrate the intranet and internal information systems of Huawei”. In September, Huawei had already accused the United States of computer attacks.
For his part, Donald Trump fears that Huawei will develop technologies for Chinese intelligence. Without any physical evidence so far. And which John Suffolk has already defended. “If we were asked by the Chinese government something inappropriate. Such as providing data or programming “backdoors”. We categorically refuse to do so”. The brand has already denied in February the creation of backdoors in its devices.
Suffolk did not attribute the attacks to any country or particular threat actor—including the U.S., and did not confirm whether they were from nation-states or competitors. But he did assure that they defend almost all attacks, but, some attacks on older systems get through. The implication of this was not clear. Although the media reported that these “cyberattacks have included a type of theft of confidential information by sending a computer virus by email.”
