Spy Review

Intelligence gathered by the British warns of the very real possibility of a Chinese cyber attack on the United Kingdom. British Telecom has had a new communication network installed by Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant. This could disrupt and have repurcussions on several key industries that are the lifeblood of everyday Britain if an attack was to take place.

The deal between Huawei, the Chinese company, and British Telecom took place in 2005. At that time, too, intelligence had warned the government about security issues. Huawei components are used extensively in British Telecom’s new networks and intelligence officials are concerned that the Chinese will be able to activate them and use them for their nefarious purposes when required.

While the likelihood of this happening may not be great, the risk is certainly present. It is also entirely possible that some intelligence gathering by the Chinese is already happening. The Foreign Office and Whitehall in Britian already faced hacking by the Chinese in 2007. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has been apprised of the situation. Now that the matter is public knowledge, hopefully, the government will act before it is too late.

If the deal with the Chinese made a few years ago does come back to haunt the UK in anyway, well, the government would only have themselves to blame because they went with the cheaper option without properly vetting the company or weighing possible risks. Sure, it might be anti-competitive practice not to award deals to firms making the most competitive offer, but sometimes security and risks should outweigh costs, espeically when it is a critical part of a communication network of a country is involved. It is always more prudent in that situation to use your own resources given that UK is one of the most high-tech of countries in the world and its own companies could take care of the situation.