Pentagon halts sales of Chinese-made smartphones as security risk

[C C]

https://phys.org/news/2018-05-pentagon-h...hones.html

EXCERPT: The Pentagon has ordered retail stores on its bases around the world to cease selling all smartphones and devices made by two Chinese companies, citing security concerns. It marked the latest salvo by the federal administration against Chinese or Russian companies that sell technology that could pose a national security risk or leave people using it vulnerable to hacking.

A Pentagon spokesman, Maj. David W. Eastburn, said all smartphones, modems, personal WiFi hotspots and other devices made by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and ZTE Corp. had been removed from stores at military facilities.

"Huawei and ZTE devices may pose an unacceptable risk to department's personnel, information and mission," Eastburn said. He declined to specify how the devices might be compromised: "For security reasons, I can't get into the technical aspects of potential threats."

MORE: https://phys.org/news/2018-05-pentagon-h...hones.html

[Magical Realist]

Here's what our Idiot in Chief tweeted just yesterday morning:

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/stat...6458262533

[Yazata]

I think that the fear is that the Chinese-made phones may include firmware specific to those phones that provide back-doors to Chinese intelligence agencies to extract information from the phones, and to activate some of the phone's functions even when the phone is turned off so that the phone in your pocket can serve as a microphone and listen in on the meetings you are attending and report what's being said to its real master.

I expect that what's being negotiated with ZTE is manufacturing the phones here in the US so that even though they are made by a Chinese-owned company, it's the US that controls their components and manufacture.