TORONTO – Canadian government and telecommunications carriers have nothing to fear from Huawei's 5G network products, the chief security officer of the company's Canadian division told telecom industry leaders, and it is free from interference from Beijing.
"Huawei operates in over 107 countries around the world, and in each they comply with local rules and regulations," Olivera Zatezalo (pictured) told the Canadian Telecom Summit on Monday during a panel session on cyber security. "All I can tell you is in Canada we are 100% compliant" with whatever the government asks.
Asked specifically about the company's independence, she said Huawei Canada is Canadian-owned and added, "I'm Canadian.”
There is a cyber security risk assessment done on all products the government allows to be sold here at an independent testing lab Huawei set up in 2013 with guidance from Ottawa, she said. Approved products are then tested by carriers here, she said.
"Nobody from China or Huawei Canada can see or touch the data on a carrier's network without carrier approval."
Out of the 2,000 products Huawei makes, it only sells 59 here, she added. None of the switches for carriers touch the network core, she stressed, a restriction mandated by the federal government for all carriers since 2013 and which has of course been in place at its primary Canadian customer Telus (something CEO Darren Entwistle pointed out earlier this year).
In the 10 years Huawei Canada has been selling products there have been "zero accidents, zero outages and never had a security incident."
Huawei has been under scrutiny for the past 24 months as carriers around the world move closer to launching 5G networks. Thanks to the huge increase in wireless network speeds, 5G is expected to also bring a increase in the number of wireless applications businesses will use and sell, from connected cars to sensors in pipelines. With more of the intelligence pushed to the network’s edge helping 5G standards reduce latency and increase speed, that is what is in part driving the fear Huawei will be too close to the networks’ core.
Critics fear Huawei's closeness to the Chinese government will make it a willing – or unwilling – partner in corporate and government espionage.
Former Canadian national security and intelligence advisors have publicly warned Ottawa against allowing wireless carriers here to buy Huawei 5G network gear, noting – as have others, that Chinese law requires companies to co-operate with the government on intelligence matters. Rogers Communications vice-chair Phil Lind appeared on BNN Bloomberg last week citing concerns over Huawei, too. Rogers’ primary wireless provider is Ericsson.
Already two of Canada's partners in the Five Eyes intelligence co-operative, Australia and the United States, have banned Huawei – and the Trump administration has repeatedly warned NATO countries that it will refuse to share intelligence if they give Huawei 5G gear approval. The U.S. has also made moves making it difficult for U.S. companies to do business with Huawei – even though the company is at the same time acknowledged by most in the industry to be well ahead of its competition when it comes to 5G technology development.
For over a year the Canadian Communications Security Establishment (CSE), which has the responsibility for securing federal communications, has been trying to decide what Canada will do.
“It's very clear this is no longer about cyber security: It is a trade war.” – Olivera Zatezalo, Huawei
However, the decision became complicated with the arrest last year of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, at the request of the U.S., which wants her extradited on allegations Huawei broke a ban on sales to Iran. Soon after two Canadians were arrested in China and then charged with espionage. China has bitterly protested the arrest of the CFO.
In an interview after the panel session, Zatezalo was asked if it's frustrating to keep getting asked about Huawei being safe for Canadian 5G networks.
"I've been in telecommunications for over 20 years" including director of security at Allstream,” she replied. "This is the least stressful job I ever had because I'm part of the team … It's not just me against everybody, it's me with people who understand we really need this technology in Canada."
When it was pointed out the Trump administration has driven all of this, she said "it just makes my job easier because it's very clear this is no longer about cyber security: It is a trade war. If this was a cyber security issue Trump would not be using Huawei as a negotiating tactic." The unintended consequences of this particular fight could be huge.
Back to the panel, Canadian privacy expert Ann Cavoukian used the occasion to pan the recently announced federal Digital Charter.
Announced by Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, the charter is a set of privacy principles the Liberal government says will guide legislation – including an update to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) – if it is re-elected.
But Cavoukian said that while the principles are reasonable, the document itself "has no teeth." She noted federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien has long called for PIPEDA to be strengthened. "Why the heck did you wait 'til now" to make this announcement,” she wondered.
"It's talk, it's for show. That's what upsets me. If this was real it would have been done a year ago."
