Lithuania says built-in cybersecurity risks found in Chinese-made Xiaomi and Huawei phones
Vilnius, Lithuania — Lithuanian cybersecurity experts are
urging the country's government agencies to abandon the use of Chinese-made
smartphones after an investigation identified security vulnerabilities and
censorship concerns with certain devices. Lithuania's National Cyber Security
Center said it found four major cybersecurity risks for devices made by Huawei
and Xiaomi, including two relating to pre-installed apps and one involving
personal data leakage, and warned against using these two brands.
There's also the risk of possible restrictions on freedom of
expression with Xiaomi phones, which contain a content-filtering feature for
449 keywords or groups of keywords in Chinese characters. The center warned the
function could be activated at any time and did not rule out the possibility
that words using Latin characters could be added. According to the Lithuanian
report, apps receive updated lists of censored words and phrases and are
capable of blocking them.
The phrases include "Free Tibet," "Voice of
America," "Democratic Movement" and "Long Live Taiwan
Independence." Although the content-filtering feature was disabled and no
censorship was performed on the phones the Lithuanian center inspected, the
center warned the function could be activated at any time.
A Huawei representative in China referred CBS News to a
previous statement issued to media outlets, saying simply that the company's
phones do not send user's data externally.
A Xiaomi spokesperson told CBS News that the company's
"devices do not censor communications to or from its users. Xiaomi has
never and will never restrict or block any personal behaviors of our smartphone
users, such as searching, calling, web browsing or the use of third-party
communication software. Xiaomi fully respects and protects the legal rights of
all users. Xiaomi complies with the European Union's General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR)."
The cybersecurity center, which is a Defense Ministry
agency, also investigated phones made by another Chinese company, OnePlus, but
found no problems.
"We strongly recommend that state and public
institutions not use those devices and plan to initiate legislation which
regulates acquiring certain devices for the ministries and various state
agencies," Deputy Defense Minister Margiris Abukevicius said Wednesday.
More than 200 public authorities have purchased such phones,
and over 4,500 phones are in use, "which, in our opinion, increases the
risks," Abukevicius said. He didn't specify the makes of all the phones.
The center's investigation, released Tuesday, was done
"to ensure the safe use of 5G mobile devices sold in our country and the
software they contain," he said.
Also, ordinary "people should also know what's inside
these phones, about the certain software and consider safety before making
their decisions," the minister said.
The Beijing-based Xiaomi, known for its value-for-money
devices, became the world's No. 2 smartphone maker by sales this year, trailing
only Samsung. The company was put on a U.S. Defense Department blacklist in the
last few days of the Trump administration, which accused it of links to China's
military. It was later removed after suing the U.S. government and denies
having any links with China's People's Liberation Army.
The move comes amid tensions between Lithuania and China.
Earlier this month, Lithuania recalled its ambassador to
China following the Baltic country's decision in July to allow Taiwan to open
an office in its capital under its own name. In August, China recalled its
ambassador to Lithuania and told the Baltic nation to "immediately rectify
its wrong decision."
China says Taiwan is part of its territory and doesn't have
the right to diplomatic recognition, although the island maintains informal
ties with all major nations through trade offices, including in the United
States and Japan. Chinese pressure has reduced Taiwan's formal diplomatic
allies to just 15.
Taiwan and Lithuania agreed in July that the office in the
capital, Vilnius, set to open this fall, will bear the name Taiwan rather than
Chinese Taipei - a term often used in other countries in order not to offend
Beijing. On Wednesday, Lithuania said it was sending another 236,000 COVID-19 vaccines
to Taiwan.
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