The discussion over the security threat posed by Chinese technology resumed in the public eye as soon as the UK chose to bar the Chinese telecom Huawei from its 5G telecom networks. At the offices of important government leaders, the British government has recently replaced security equipment supplied by Chinese-owned tech companies.
This comes after the British government was urged to take action against the use of surveillance technology made by two Chinese businesses, Hikvision and Dahua, which have previously been placed on the blacklist by Washington, according to a story in the American daily Financial Post.
The tiny components made by Chinese companies found in gadgets connected by the Internet of Things, however, pose a threat that has gone unnoticed.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has progressed from specialised industrial uses to being pervasive in residences, workplaces, and some vehicles. These technologies are fantastic at assisting us in our daily lives, but they serve as data collectors that a hostile state like China can use to intimidate, pressure, or influence a rival organisation or person.
Small cellular IoT modules are what makes all of these connected features possible. They are rarely sold as complete goods, unlike semiconductors or 5G base stations, which helps to explain why London and Washington seem to have overlooked the issue. The US cyber security agency CISA has just issued a warning about serious vulnerabilities in GPS-enabled IoT devices developed in China that are found in automobiles and motorcycles. In addition to allowing Chinese providers to track the location of these devices remotely and perhaps shut off the gasoline supply while vehicles were in motion, they were discovered to contain hard-coded admin passwords and other vulnerabilities. The UK’s decision to replace the Chinese surveillance system was praised by Prof. Fraser Sampson, Commissioner for the Retention and Use of Biometric Material and Commissioner for Surveillance Cameras.
He assured Asian Lite that other government agencies would assess their current methods and take his suggestions into account when buying surveillance and security gear. Sampson is the national chair of the Association of Police and Crime Chief Executives and a specialist in criminal justice. According to him, there is an abundance of privately held, unregulated recording devices on the market, including dash cams, mobile phones, video doorbells, and others.
“These numerous CCTV cameras in our public spaces are unnecessary. Simply put, we need a mechanism to gather the content and alter it for security purposes “explained he. Due to the companies’ participation in the Chinese government’s mistreatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, other rights organisations are pushing for Hikvision and Dahua to be banned in the UK. In all of the Uyghur region’s concentration camps, Hikvision and Dahua cameras are in use. Both businesses have agreements to carry out 11 different, extensive monitoring programmes around the region, totalling at least $1.2 billion.
Numerous in-depth investigations by researchers think tanks, and international media have revealed that since 2017, Chinese authorities have imprisoned up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in internment camps.
