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How Huawei’s Latest Rebuke Poses Cybersecurity Risks

The indefinite removal of Huawei from an international cybersecurity group could reverberate beyond the U.S. government’s ongoing clash with the Chinese telecom giant.

The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) confirmed this month that it had to suspend Huawei’s membership due to U.S. sanctions against the company. Washington has long been concerned that Huawei could help with Chinese government spying efforts.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, FIRST’s decision “effectively freezes Huawei out of discussions... over matters such as software glitches, that could slow the company’s ability to patch or fix holes in its own systems.” The company will also reportedly be shut out of information-sharing groups on security vulnerabilities and “an automated platform for sharing information on malware.”

As Wired notes, while it may seem only reasonable to stop revealing vulnerabilities to a company the U.S. is concerned might abuse the information, FIRST’s move could also help malware spread. “The reliability and security of today’s internet is rooted in security professionals around the world, and across industries and companies, cooperating across borders and even between competitors on a daily basis to mitigate the impact of security incidents,” FIRST said in a statement. “When regulation directly affects this ability to cooperate, the stability and security of the Internet can be placed at risk.”

Huawei’s phones and gear are used not only in China, but globally. Huawei losing access to security information about, for instance, its smartphones’ Android operating system could make Huawei customers vulnerable to cyber attacks. Infected devices could then be turned against devices and networks from other providers. FIRST said it was still talking with Huawei and the U.S. Commerce Department about the company’s membership role. The group also urged the U.S. government to add a cybersecurity exemption from sanctions, such as already existing exemptions for medicine and other matters deemed vital, in order to “enable the truly global incident response capability, which we and other organizations represent.”

Huawei didn’t comment on its suspension from FIRST, but this month said U.S. officials had “threatened, coerced and enticed” the company’s employees, both current and former, allegedly going as far as “cyberattacks to infiltrate Huawei’s intranet and internal information systems.” FIRST will almost definitely be allowed to bring Huawei back into the fold soon, according to Zak Doffman, founder of AI business Digital Barriers. “There is no advantage in exposing millions of consumers around the world to technology risk simply to make a point,” he writes on Forbes.com

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