Security News > 2009 > March > Britain could be shut down by hackers from China, intelligence experts warn
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5072204/Britain-could-be-shut-down-by-hackers-from-China-intelligence-experts-warn.html By Alastair Jamieson Telegraph.co.uk 29 March 2009 Ministers have been warned that a new £10bn communications network being developed by BT is vulnerable to a potential attack from within the Communist state because it uses equipment supplied by Chinese telecoms firm Huawei. Although the risk of anyone in China exploiting the capability is currently low, intelligence experts believe the impact of any such attack would be very high. Computers at the Foreign Office and other Whitehall departments were attacked from China in 2007 and the threat from foreign governments and big companies is believed to be greater than that posed by terrorists. Alex Allan, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), it thought to have briefed members of the ministerial committee on national security about the threat from China at a Whitehall meeting in January. Ministers were told steps to curb the potential threat have made little difference. Huawei is China's biggest phone company and a major world supplier. Under a multi-million pound deal signed in 2005, it is providing key components for BT's new '21CN' network which will use internet technology to speed up communications on behalf of thousands of public agencies and businesses. Among those who will be relying on the new network are the government's own intelligence agency GCHQ, Whitehall departments and the military. [...]