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Germany, in what European diplomats on Thursday called veiled criticism of Beijing and Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies, warned of cybersecurity attacks that could be launched by “nation states or nation state-backed actors” on future 5G networks within the European Union.
The German government made those comments in a national risk assessment exercise conducted by the European Commission, spurred by growing public concern over the potential for attacks on networks, devices, programmes and data linked to superfast 5G, or fifth-generation, data transmission.
“It’s obvious the German government is referring to Huawei and China, given that the company is the leading player in 5G and the biggest concern for Europe,” a European diplomatic source told the South China Morning Post.
“It will be interesting to see what other EU member states will say in their submissions.”
The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, is to prepare a coordinated EU-wide evaluation of the potential risks associated with 5G networks by October 3.
The commission will propose measures for addressing the risks identified during the assessment process by year’s end.
Huawei has been at the centre of concerns raised by intelligence officials in Washington, London and Canberra that telecommunications infrastructure can be used by foreign governments to obtain private data.
US officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have lobbied governments worldwide for restrictions on the deployment of the company’s systems.
Huawei, the world’s largest telecoms equipment maker, has been appealing to EU member states to oppose the US effort to block it from supplying EU countries with 5G mobile network hardware and software.
The US, in turn, has threatened to cut off intelligence-sharing with countries that use the controversial Chinese company’s products.
But some European countries have found it hard to resist the appeal of Huawei’s lower costs and technological superiority over European rivals Nokia and Ericsson.
As well, Huawei already has a foothold in the European market, where its hardware can be found in many 4G networks.
The EU will finish collecting risk assessments from the 28 member states on October 3.
The German submission ” containing the comments seen as criticism of Huawei ” is to be released by the EU this week, under the bloc’s access-to-information rules.
Without referring to any company or country, the German assessment lists six areas of 5G vulnerability.
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