Huawei sets aside $2 billion to clear itself of security concerns in the UK

Following allegations made by the US government, officials from around the world have been omitting Huawei from network infrastructures in fear of surveillance. Huawei has allocated $2 billion in order to address those security concerns in the United Kingdom but has warned that the process could take up to five years to complete.

Huawei reiterated its rejection to these claims in an open letter to the UK’s Commons Science and Technology Committee, stating that it is not and has never been a threat to national security. Given that the company has been a part of the UK’s 3G and 4G infrastructure for quite some time before retroactively being removed, Huawei points towards its history as proof that it is innocent.

“Our solid track record in security is our strongest evidence. The governments in some countries have labelled Huawei as a security threat, but they have never substantiated these allegations with solid evidence,” explains head of Huawei’s carrier business group, Ryan Ding.

Given that Huawei’s primary headquarters is based in the authoritarian state of China, international government bodies fear that the smartphone and networking company could be forced to implement backdoor access in its equipment that would facilitate espionage efforts.

“We would like to reiterate that Huawei has never received any such requests from the Chinese government and in the event we did … we would categorically refuse to comply with it. Huawei is a closely watched company. Were Huawei ever to engage in malicious behaviour, it would not go unnoticed – and it would certainly destroy our business,” continues Ding.

“Cybersecurity remains Huawei’s top priority, and we will continue to actively improve our engineering processes and risk management systems. At our most recent board meeting, we officially signed off on a companywide transformation programme for our software engineering capabilities. The company will initially invest $2 billion over the next five years to comprehensively improve our software engineering capabilities.”

KitGuru Says: It’s a lofty investment with continued promises of finally ridding itself of the scrutiny, but only time will tell if government officials agree.

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