UK government ministers have been warned that China possesses the capability to spy on millions of people by weaponizing microcips found in cars, household appliances, laptops and lightbulbs.
According to The Telegraph:
The “Trojan horse” technology poses a “wide-ranging” threat to UK national security, according to a report sent to the Government by a former diplomat who has advised Parliament on Beijing.
The modules collect data and then transmit it via the 5G network, giving China the opportunity to monitor the movements of intelligence targets including people, arms and supplies, and to use the devices for industrial espionage. Millions of them are already in use in the UK.
The report, published on Monday by the Washington-based consultancy OODA, says the potential threat to national security outstrips the threat from Chinese-made components in mobile phone masts which led to a Government ban on Huawei products being used in mobile infrastructure.
Ministers have completely failed to grasp the threat posed by the “pervasive presence” of the modules, known as cellular IoTs, the report says – a concern that has been echoed by senior MPs. It calls on ministers to take urgent action to ban Chinese-made cellular IoTs from goods sold in Britain before it is too late.
Charles Parton, the author of the report, said: “We are not yet awake to this threat. China has spotted an opportunity to dominate this market, and if it does so it can harvest an awful lot of data as well as making foreign countries dependent on them.”
Mr Parton spent 22 years of his diplomatic career working in or on China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and has advised the Foreign Office and the EU on Chinese affairs, as well as being the Commons foreign affairs committee’s special adviser on China.
Cellular IoTs – which stands for Internet of Things – are small modules used in everything from smart fridges to advanced weapons systems to monitor usage and transmit data back to the owner, and often the manufacturer, using 5G.
Earlier this month it emerged that the security services had dismantled ministerial cars and found at least one of the devices hidden inside another component. There were fears that China had the capability of monitoring the movements of everyone from the prime minister downwards using the modules.
But the problem goes far beyond ministerial cars, the report warns.
Three Chinese companies – Quectel, Fibocom and China Mobile – already have 54 per cent of the global market in the devices, and 75 per cent by connectivity.
Like all Chinese firms, they must hand over data to the Chinese government if ordered to, meaning that the Chinese Communist Party can gain access to as many devices as it likes.
