Cyber Security Concerns Excluded Huawei From Australian Broadband Project

Chinese telecom companies like Huawei and ZTE are facing growing concerns of cyber security. Many nations have shown their concerns regarding possible attack upon their critical infrastructures that are dependent upon telecom infrastructure if they use telecom equipments of these Chinese companies.

A common cause of concern is the possibility of existence of embedded malware and backdoor in the Chinese telecom equipments. While Chinese telecom equipments makers are trying their level best to convince the governments of various nations about the safety of their equipments yet the Chinese telecom equipment makers are increasingly being excluded from national contracts.

In India, although we have no applicable telecom equipments security framework of India yet Indian government has shown great concerns regarding telecom security. Indian government has also announced that telecom equipments must be certified by TEC in India before use. This is the reason why telecom equipment providers like Huawei and ZTE were trapped in telecom security tangle of India.

ZTE has also been facing allegations of providing e-surveillance equipments to Iran. Now it has been reported that Huawei has been blocked from bidding on Australia’s $37.5 billion national broadband (NBN) project. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard cited cyber security concerns for taking such an action.

NBN plans to cater around 93 percent of Australian demand for Internet connections by 2017. Obviously, with such large percentage of connectivity, this broadband infrastructure would be the backbone of Australia's Internet infrastructure. So Australia took a very cautious step by excluding the telecom equipments of Huawei.

Huawei has maintained a positive attitude in this situation and it is expecting a future partnership with Australia in this regard. At the same time, Huawei is also working hard to remain open and transparent so that its credibility remains unblemished.

Meanwhile, there is an urgent need to formulate a new national telecom network security policy of India. In fact, a national telecom network security coordination board (NTNCCB) of India has already been suggested to be constituted in India. Some significant provisions in this regard have also been suggested by the national telecom policy of India 2012. However, by and large, the telecom security infrastructure and telecom policy of India are still defective and insufficient.

Has ZTE Facilitated E-Surveillance In Iran?

Human rights protection in cyberspace is an area that requires urgent attention of United Nations and international community. The way national governments are engaging in illegal and unconstitutional e-surveillance, civil liberties in cyberspace are in great danger.

Further, cyber security concerns of telecom equipments have also put forward their own unique questions. Although we have no applicable telecom equipments security framework of India yet Indian government has shown great concerns regarding telecom security. Indian government has also announced that telecom equipments must be certified by TEC in India before use. This is the reason why telecom equipment providers like Huawei and ZTE were trapped in telecom security tangle of India.

Now ZTE has been facing accusations of selling powerful e-surveillance systems to Iran that are capable of monitoring telephone and Internet communications. Reacting sharply to these accusations, ZTE has announced that it will curtail its business in Iran. It has also been reported that despite a longtime U.S. sales ban on tech products to Iran, ZTE's "Packing List" for the contract, dated July 24, 2011, included numerous American hardware and software products.

India is also planning to install a similar e-surveillance system known as central monitoring system of India that can achieve similar results. India has also announced to establish an Indian national cyber coordination centre (NCCC). However, while doing so the big brother in India must not exceed its limits. Such initiatives can strengthen national security only if civil liberties and procedural safeguards aspects are taken care of. India’s telecom security policy is needed to legally manage the human rights and civil liberty issues.

As far as foreign telecom equipment providers like Huawei and ZTE are concerned, they must keep their business very clean and far from suspicion. Issues like e-surveillance, backdoor allegations, etc must be avoided to retain a stake in Indian market.

Norms For Import Of Telecom Equipments In India

Import of telecom equipments, especially for India, has never been smooth. Security agencies of India have been raising concerns regarding possibility of “backdoors” in hardware and software of foreign vendors.

India has no institution or department that can check malware in hardware and software. India has to depend upon other countries like UK for testing of imported hardware and software.

In this entire exercise, the import of hardware of foreign vendors has been affected to a great extent. On the request of these foreign vendors, Indian government assured that the matter would be expedited very soon.

Meanwhile, Kapil Sibal, Minister of department of communication and information technology and department of telecommunications has shown his support for indigenously manufactured hardware and software.

Now the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has asked the communication and home ministries to ensure that new norms for import of telecom equipment are in place by the month-end. The original deadline was October-end 2010, and the PMO in a May 20 communication to these ministries has asked them to complete the process by May-end, and ensure no further extension becomes necessary'.

At present, India has two separate policy guidelines for import of telecom gear. Chinese vendors such as Huawei and ZTE follow the July 2010 guidelines while Western telecom equipment manufacturers were given the option of following the policy issued in late 2009, after they refused to operate in India under the July rules.

In August 2010, the PMO had asked the ministries to review the strict security standards unveiled during the previous month (July) after they were being labelled "too tough" by foreign telecom gearmakers. Western vendors and business lobbies in the US, Europe and Japan have been pressuring India to overturn the July 2010 rules.

The PMO had given both ministries two months to come up with a revised code of standards more aligned to procedures being followed globally, but these are yet to be notified. In the interim period, imports of telecom gear from China resumed after its companies agreed to adhere to the stringent rules.

There are many crucial areas that have to be covered by the present norms. Let us see how successful the Indian government would be in meeting these requirements.