Is Huawei spying for China?

as posted here

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Is Huawei spying for China?

By Fran Foo
CHINA'S leading telecommunications equipment maker, Huawei, has once again been forced to dismiss spying allegations and stake its claim in the $43 billion national broadband network bonanza.
Huawei has faced major challenges doing business in some parts of the world due to its close links with the Chinese government. The fact that its founder, Ren Zhengfei, was a People's Liberation Army officer also complicated some situations.

But Huawei has managed to overcome the odds and today ranks as one of the world's largest players in its field.
On Monday a company official's seemingly benign comments managed to raise the ire of The Australian readers online.
Huawei regional chief technology officer Paul Scanlan said the company backed the NBN model proposed by the government as it would drive competition in the local telecoms industry and raise productivity levels.
"Huawei fully supports the government's decision for an open wholesale access network,'' Mr Scanlan told AAP.
Most readers were against the company's involvement in the NBN due to its close ties with the Asian nation's communist regime. It was also called to account on spying claims.
In September The Australian reported that ASIO was investigating whether Huawei Australia had employed technicians with direct ties to the PLA.
Huawei employees in Sydney and Melbourne had approached ASIO to voice their concerns.
The company denied it was being investigated nor linked to the Chinese military or the Chinese government.
The same line was repeated today, with Huawei spokesman Jeremy Mitchell stressing the company's performance and quality products.
Mr Mitchell said Huawei booked worldwide sales worth over $US30bn ($32.8bn) in 2009.
It has partnerships with 36 of the world's top 50 telcos, he said.
"We have just recorded the largest LTE (long term evolution) contract in Europe and recorded double digit growth in the US.
"Huawei has been in Australia for over four years (and) 73 per cent of our staff (are) locals.
"Seventy per cent of revenue comes from outside of China and no, it isn't government- owned, its largest shareholder owns less then 2 per cent of the company and the rest is employee-owned," Mr Mitchell said.

as posted here

Obama : 'Systemic failure' allowed airliner attack

as posted here

HONOLULU - President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the intelligence community had bits of information that should have been pieced together that would have triggered "red flags" and possibly prevented the Christmas Day attempted terror attack on a Detroit-bound airliner.


 criticism as senior U.S. officials told The Associated Press that intelligence authorities now are looking at conversations between the suspect in the failed attack, a 23-year-old Nigerian, and at least one al-Qaida member. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the conversations were vague or coded, but the intelligence community believes that, in hindsight, the communications may have been referring to the Detroit attack. One official said a link between the suspect's planning and al-Qaida's goals was becoming more clear.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the government had intelligence from Yemen before Christmas that leaders of a branch of al-Qaida there were talking about "a Nigerian" being prepared for a terrorist attack. The newspaper said the information did not include the name of the Nigerian.

The officials who spoke with the AP did not say how these communications with the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, took place - by Internet, cell phone or another method. Intelligence officials also would not confirm whether those conversations involved Yemen-based radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, but other U.S. government officials said there were initial indications that he was involved.

Al-Awlaki reportedly corresponded by e-mail with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5.

"Had this critical information been shared, it could have been compiled with other intelligence, and a fuller, clearer picture of the suspect would have emerged," Obama said in a brief statement to the media. "The warning signs would have triggered red flags, and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America."

"There was a mix of human and systemic failures that contributed to this potential catastrophic breach of security," the president said.

Officials said Obama chose to make a second statement in as many days because a morning briefing offered him new information in the government's possession about the suspect's activities and thinking, along with al-Qaida's plans.

Obama 's statement showed more fire than he had shown previously about the lapses that allowed the bombing attack to take place and came after his homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, had to backtrack on an assertion that "the system worked" in the Detroit airliner scare. Some have criticized Obama for not addressing the issue publicly sooner.

An angered Obama called the shortcomings "totally unacceptable" and told reporters traveling with him on vacation here that he wanted a preliminary report by Thursday on what went wrong on Christmas Day, when the suspect carried explosives onto a flight from Amsterdam despite the fact the suspect had possible ties to al-Qaida.

It will take weeks for a more comprehensive investigation into what allowed the 23-year-old Nigerian to board the airplane he is accused of trying to blow up with more than 300 people aboard.

as posted here

Insecure about Delhi

as posted here

Insecure about Delhi

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CLIVE WILLIAMS

The Commonwealth Games will be held in New Delhi from 3-14 October 2010, and there is continuing concern about the safety and security of the event, perhaps more so in the UK than in Australia. 

The challenge from a security perspective is how you can achieve safety and security for all games participants in a high threat environment.

By comparison, the Beijing Summer Olympic Games of 2008 were held in much less difficult security circumstances; the main threat being the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), representing disaffected Uighurs in the remote region of Xinjiang. 

The Chinese security authorities closely monitored all Uighur activity in the lead up to the Olympics, and Beijing went into lockdown mode against domestic "dissident elements" for the duration of the games.

India generally has a much less repressive approach to security, despite having a much more significant terrorism problem than China. 

The Indian National Security Advisor MK Narayanan acknowledged in August 2008 that there are as many as 800 active terrorist cells in India. In 2008, 1,113 people died in India as a result of terrorism. The most publicised terrorist attack in 2008 was the November 2008 Lashkar e-Taiba (LeT) attack in Mumbai that killed 170 people, including two Australians. 

DFAT's current Travel Advice for India notes "the high risk of terrorist activity by militant groups".

Delhi is less dangerous than Mumbai, but an attack by five Islamist terrorists on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 killed nine security staff. Three terrorist bombings on 29 October 2005 killed more than 60 people. There were five more bombings in Delhi on 13 September 2008 killing more than 30. 

The most concerning aspect of the attack on the Parliament was the likelihood of insider assistance. The terrorists dressed in Indian Army commando fatigues and entered Parliament through a VIP gate in a vehicle displaying Parliament and Home Ministry security stickers. 

Once the attack started, security personnel sealed the building. Had they not done so, many of the more than 200 Ministers and Parliamentarians could have died. 

In 2009, there was ongoing terrorist activity in Delhi, with the arrest of LeT members in June and August, and of two suspected Hizb ul-Mujahideen (HM) members in August.

The main aim of Islamist terrorists in India is to put pressure on India to hold a plebiscite over the future of Jammu and Kashmir. They believe that Jammu and Kashmir should not be part of India, and that its majority Islamic population should be given the option of becoming part of Pakistan. 

"Islamic" Pakistan and "Hindu" India have fought three wars over this issue. Jammu and Kashmir is now divided between them with a Line of Control separating Pakistan-held Azad (Free) Kashmir from the Indian held southern part of the territory. 

Maintaining pressure on India may be just as well served by an attack on Delhi between now and the games, causing major teams to withdraw. The UK is currently in wait-and-see mode until September 2010 because of the possibility of pre-games violence.

Another reason for targeting the games would be to kill athletes and officials from those countries that have "affronted Islam" by having troops in Afghanistan. These include England (the UK is sending four separate teams - England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland), Canada and Australia. Such reasoning could result in a similar attack to the armed attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan on 3 March 2009 - or it could take the form of bombing attacks like the ones in New Delhi in 2005 or 2008. 

Surprisingly, India's Home Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai has said he is not aware of security threats to the games, and that no special security measures will be undertaken for athletes from specific countries. 

India claims to have security under control with plans for four layers of protective security, a centralised command structure, and the deployment of 8,000 additional police.

It is also being well advised by security consultants like Australian Neil Fergus, a former ASIO officer, who worked on security at the Sydney Olympics and has since advised on security at other major sporting events, such as the Beijing Olympics.

Even so, concerns will relate to the extent to which India is prepared to accept and act on external advice. India has long had a poor track record in the areas of security intelligence, command and control, and counterterrorism response. 

Official inquiries into botched responses to past attacks do not seem to have resulted in adequate reforms. By contrast, India's (and Pakistan's) Islamist extremists are well trained, well prepared, and retain the initiative. 

They could also - based on the 2001 attack - have insider support that would allow them to circumvent some of the security measures.

Despite the contrast between Australian games officials' optimism and British security officials' pessimism, our main concern should be our duty of care to Australia's athletes - and ensuring that they are exposed to minimal risk. 

We should not over-rely on Indian protection. The Australian Federal Police is reportedly planning to provide two or more officers to provide security assistance for the 425+ Australian athletes, while Australian officials have reportedly hired security guards, but we should be thinking of providing much more substantial Australian protective support for our team.

as posted here

Huawei backs NBN model

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A LEADING global player in providing high-speed internet systems has backed the Rudd government's plan for an open-access national broadband network.

The company that will build and operate the $43 billion network -- NBN Co -- is expected to announce early next month a shortlist of prospective partners to join the project.

China's Huawei Technologies, which has been involved in the rollout of similar networks in Britain, Singapore and Malaysia, is seen as one of the frontrunners to make the list.

The company's regional chief technology officer, Paul Scanlan, said the model proposed by the government would deliver a major boost to competition in the telecommunications sector and productivity in Australia across the board.

"Huawei fully supports the government's decision for an open wholesale access network,'' he said.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Huawei in ASIO's net
• NBN failings exposed on public data, costs
• ASIO has ear on Chinese whispers
• Bad planning will delay NBN, Huawei warns

The open-access model proposed for the NBN means internet service providers and other players in the sector will avoid the problem of the current regime, which sees many companies at a disadvantage because of Telstra's near-monopoly of the infrastructure.

But Mr Scanlan said the proposed model would promote competition in the broadband sector, with all service providers and content providers able to access the customer base on a level playing field as far as pricing was concerned.

Mr Scanlan said that while the physical deployment size and demographics were different in Singapore, it was a good example of how an open-access wholesale model could work in Australia.

"An open wholesale model creates opportunities for small niche players that have the ability to embrace technology quickly; because these niche players are nimble they can better service more focused user groups,'' he said.

"We are used to seeing the digital economy at a macro level. With an open access network we will see a growth in the micro-digital economy which will, for example, stimulate specialised community based players in the market.''

Mr Scanlan said the NBN, because of the sheer breadth and scope of the project, would also provide a major boost for productivity in Australia, a key objective of the Rudd government.

"It will enable business, especially small and medium-sized companies to interact in ways not previously open to them,'' he said.

"Once again the productivity comes from the applications on the network rather then the network itself; an NBN is a foundation that enables the productivity gains.''

While the opposition has scoffed at the eight-year timetable for the NBN build, Mr Scanlan said it was achievable.

"As with any major infrastructure project, significant planning and co-operation with many local partners is necessary.''

"We see no issues with the supply chain in the rollout of Australia's NBN.''

as posted here

no actual mention of ASIO here but in light of previous stories I feel it is appropriate to post it here