News
The annual report into the risks posed by Huawei – and in particular software it produces – to the UK’s national infrastructure has remained unpublished since 2021, raising concerns about a lack of government transparency.
The Telegraph newspaper article said that the report overseen by the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) – otherwise known as the ‘The Cell’ – has been in existence since 2010, but in 2021 the then-culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, decided to not to make it publicly available.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology did not comment on the decision, leading to suggestions that the government “let Huawei off the hook.” It is not clear if the report is still being produced as the work of ‘The Cell’ continues at its Banbury HQ.
In 2020 Total Telecom reported that the same watchdog report had found numerous flaws during its investigations, including one vulnerability deemed “nationally significant”. HCSEC said at the time that it “continues to reveal serious and systematic defects in Huawei’s software engineering and cyber security competence”.
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