A woman uses a phone during the launch of the Huawei Ascend P6. US is said to have hacked into Huawei servers to get information on Kenya and other states. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
American security agency reported to have hacked into firm’s servers.
The Huawei Kenyan office agreed corporate networks are under constant probe and attack from different sources, adding that it is a reality of digital age.
The Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) said it is not aware of any spying of Huawei servers or its clients.
Huawei Kenya has condemned the alleged hacking of its parent company’s servers by US National Security Agency, but said it had effectively countered any threats.
The industry regulator, the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) though denied knowledge of spying on Kenya said to be a top target.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that the National Security Agency (NSA) hacked into servers of Huawei Technologies Co, obtaining sensitive information and monitoring the communications of top executives.
‘‘NSA was interested in getting information on key Chinese customers including high priority targets—Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kenya, Cuba,” the newspaper said.
The Huawei Kenyan office agreed corporate networks are under constant probe and attack from different sources, adding that it is a reality of digital age.
“If the actions in the report are true, Huawei condemns such activities that invaded and infiltrated into our internal corporate network and monitored our communications,” said the Kenya office in response to Business Daily.
“Huawei disagrees with all activities that threaten the security of networks and is willing to work with all governments, industry stakeholders and customers, in an open and transparent manner, to jointly address the global challenge of network security.”
CAK said it is not aware of any spying of Huawei servers or its clients. Other than the handling regulatory matters, CAK also houses Kenya Computer Incident Response Team Coordination Centre (KE-CIRT) which is tasked with cyber security management in the country.
“The commission is not aware of the alleged spying incident or compromise of Huawei servers and clients,” Francis Wangusi, the director-general of CAK said.
Huawei Technologies offers hardware and software support to a numbers of Kenyan IT firms including Safaricom, Telkom Kenya and has also secured lucrative telecommunication infrastructure contracts with the government.
Huawei has in recent years won multibillion contracts both from the government of Kenya and the private sector, edging out rival Chinese telco ZTE and other multinational IT firms across the globe.
Among the contracts is the laying of phase two of the National Optic Fibre Infrastructure (Nofbi) worth Sh6 billion which is set to commence in coming weeks.
The firm was last year involved in a court battle with ZTE over a multimillion tender to supply the police with communication and surveillance system in a row that saw the High Court freeze the deal.
The newspaper said the snooping operation code-named “Shotgiant” was based on NSA documents provided by Edward Snowden, the fugitive former agency contractor who since last year has leaked data revealing sweeping US surveillance activities.
One of the goals of the operation was to find any connections between Huawei and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, according to a 2010 document cited by the New York Times.
But the newspaper said the operation also sought to exploit Huawei’s technology. If ordered by the US president, the NSA also planned to unleash offensive cyber operations, it said.
“The security and integrity of our corporate network and our products are our highest priorities,” added Huawei Kenya office.
Alex Gakuru, a technology rights defender, said that most of the cyber warfare is either done through malware, spyware, virus with the most brutal means being the denial of service.
Developing countries heavily investing in ICT find themselves in the cross-hairs of superpowers.
‘‘The government should be very wary of every so-termed “technical support” on critical national communications infrastructure from superpowers, which may actually be no more than official open-door policy accepting installation of back-doors spy software and hardware systems,” Mr Gakuru.
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