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Huawei blockade: do I need to stop using my Android phone?
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Busted: 5 Myths about Facebook's messenger app Aug 11, Sep 13, Jun 10, Android certified items under safety net of Google Play Protect Aug 30, Mar 08, Mar 31, Recommended for you. Malicious apps infect 25 million Android devices with 'Agent Smith' malware Jul 11, Feb 22, There isn't any hard evidence at this time to back up any claims that Huawei phones are a threat to personal or national security. It's just a lot of smoke from Washington. Ironically, the only known hacking we know of that's closely related to Huawei wasn't done by the company or the Chinese government, but by the NSA.
In , it was revealed the NSA had made a program called "Shotgiant" that created backdoors into Huawei-made networking equipment in order to monitor communications around the world and find ties between the Chinese company and China's People's Liberation Army. Per the New York Times :.
Smartphone
Two years after Shotgiant became a major program, the House Intelligence Committee delivered an unclassified report on Huawei and another Chinese company, ZTE, that cited no evidence confirming the suspicions about Chinese government ties. Just imagine if any other government said this. For example, imagine if the Chinese government accused Apple's iPhones of spying on its citizens even though there's no evidence to suggest so.
It then bans iPhones and labels Apple as untrustworthy because it could be working with, say, the NSA, to monitor Chinese communications.
Would that be fair? Of course not. In , it was discovered that Adups, a Chinese-based software company that sells firmware to third-party Android makers like Blu, had included software that would send a person's text messages to a Chinese server every 72 hours. The tracking software was intended for an unnamed Chinese phone maker, but was not intended for American phones. Blu had the spyware removed, but it's unclear if other phone makers like Huawei and ZTE who also reportedly use Adups' software also removed it from their devices.
And which phones have the spyware if they're still present on phones? We've reached out to Huawei for clarification. Huawei has always maintained that it's an "independent private company wholly owned by its employees," but any ounce of suspicion unfounded or not hurts its business, not just in the U.
So what can the company do to address these worries, assuming it's not really in cahoots with the Chinese government? Yes, it sucks that Huawei is getting dragged around, but if it wants to prove its innocence, it'll need to show extensively how its devices aren't eavesdropping on its users. There is no evidence at this time to back up any claims that Huawei phones are a threat to personal or national security.
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It's not quite the same situation, but it could be in Huawei's best interest to borrow a move from Samsung's playbook when the Galaxy Note 7 phones exploded in Following the Note 7's unfortunate launch, Samsung vowed to create a thorough investigation into what caused the batteries to combust. In addition to conducting its own investigation, the company also hired electrical experts from outside firms such as UL as well for unbiased perspectives. Samsung then shared these detailed findings at a press conference streamed worldwide for consumers to watch. And as if that wasn't enough, Samsung invited select tech publications including Mashable to visit its battery factories in South Korea to further learn about its findings and the measures it had implemented to ensure such a situation would never happen again on new phones.
This strategy ultimately helped the company right its mobile reputation.