US To Open Program To Replace Huawei Equipment In US Networks

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday said it would open a $1.9 billion program to reimburse mostly rural U.S. telecom carriers for removing network equipment made by Chinese companies deemed national security threats like Huawei and ZTE. The program, which was finalized in July, will open Oct. 29 for applications through Jan. 14, 2022.

Last year, the FCC designated Huawei and ZTE as national security threats to communications networks -- a declaration that barred U.S. firms from tapping an $8.3 billion government fund to purchase equipment from the companies. The FCC in December adopted rules requiring carriers with ZTE or Huawei equipment to "rip and replace" that equipment. The issue is a big one for rural carriers that face high costs and difficulty finding workers to remove and replace equipment. The FCC's final order expanded the companies eligible for reimbursement from those with 2 million or fewer customers to those with 10 million or fewer customers. The FCC in September 2020 estimated it would cost $1.837 billion to remove and replace Huawei and ZTE equipment from networks. [...] The affected companies included the previously designated Huawei and ZTE, as well as Hytera, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co.

Good

[andydread]

Good. Since the authoritarian expansionist CCP has declared that those companies are part of their military establishment and must comply with any demands from the party then i totally agree with this move.

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[andydread]

Nothing racist here. If it were a Russian company the same would apply and last i check they are whiter than America is. The authoritarian expansionist CCP has declared that those companies must provide data to the CCP and must comply with its demands from a national security perspective. It would be dumb to let companies tied to a hostile adversarial party have control over the nation's critical infrastructure.

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[NFN_NLN]

https://www.theverge.com/2013/... [theverge.com]

The company's full statement is below:

This is tired nonsense we’ve been hearing for years, trotted out anew as a flimsy bright and shiny object to distract attention from the very real compromising of global networks and information that has been exposed in recent weeks. Misdirecting and slandering Huawei may feel okay because the company is Chinese-based – no harm, no foul, right? Wrong. Huawei is a world-proven multinational across 150 global markets that suppo

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[Truth_Quark]

It's either for cyber security or it's for securing a supply chain of electronic components.

I'm okay with either, at this stage.

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[StikyPad]

I can understand why Huawei is upset. The risk here is more hypothetical than actual, and more political than technological. It's not that Huawei is actively exploiting their install base; it's that they could be compelled to by the government to do so -- say, through a malicious firmware update -- and we'd be none the wiser until it was too late. So I can understand the US fears as well.

Even so, this could happen with any company through various means. Maybe in China the biggest risk is the government,

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[AmiMoJo]

They ain't wrong. On the plus side, this does mean that there will probably be some cheap Huawei gear on the market soon.

It's amazing what you can pick up cheap when the market makes a bit switch. At the moment a lot of Intel gear is getting dumped and replaced with AMD, so you can find 22 core Xeons on eBay for a few hundred bucks. Maybe I'll be able to pick up a cheap switch or something since I have no issue running Huawei hardware. I wonder if their routers can run pfSense...

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[meow_1947]

@NFN_NLN You want some proof huh? Here is some. Let me know what you think. https://www.bloomberg.com/news... [bloomberg.com] " Vodafone Group Plc has acknowledged to Bloomberg that it found vulnerabilities going back years with equipment supplied by Shenzhen-based Huawei for the carrier’s Italian business." Technical Evidence of Huawei Vulnerabilities https://www.cvedetails.com/vul... [cvedetails.com] Another Article https://www.wsj.com/articles/h... [wsj.com] You are right! It is Political. Geo-Political that is. China is trying to expa

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[ceoyoyo]

It's not racist. Huawei refused to put backdoors into their telecom equipment for the US government so now they're on the bad boy list. Buy Cisco.

https://www.theregister.com/20... [theregister.com]

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[Local ID10T]

If you see racism everywhere... check the mirror for the racist.

More lies

[youngone]

Thanks cayenne8. [slashdot.org]

But I"ve heard that Huawei hardware may actually be welcome to be used in the US again....so, I guess no one in the govt. gives a fsck about national security anymore.

And the 5 idiots that modded that nonsense Insightful.

No problem

[PPH]

We've got a bunch of 2G/3G stuff stacked up in the warehouse.

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[Ostracus]

Maybe the US will sell all this taken out equipment to third-world countries.

Ebay?

[im_thatoneguy]

Hopefully this'll be a bonanza of networking equipment on the cheap on eBay.

I for one am not really concerned about our business being hacked by the Chinese government. Nothing really worth their time.

forget huawei

[awwshit]

Here is $1.9B to have it your way.

Time for proof

[fafalone]

Once all of a particular model is offline, they need to release the technical data showing proof of whatever backdoor or suspiciously severe security bug they were basing this all on. Because if there is none, as many suspect, they need to go ahead and admit the real reason and pay damages. And if there is, it's a PR win for credibility and trust in intelligence agencies, which couldn't desperately use some.

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[Canberra1]

A few million and some universities taking these installations to a forensic autopsy is needed to justify 1.9 Billion, plus the other billions previously spent, plus several billions to replace Chinese made gear, with more Chinese made gear, only with an American flag that gets it over the 50% mark. Too bad if 100% of the software is also Chinese sourced from a front company, in say Houston, Remember if the Chinese supply backend software, they will know the holes. Go on, and employ some American talent to

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[thomn8r]

Remember if the Chinese supply backend software, they will know the holes. Go on, and employ some American talent to solve unproven assertions for good.

There's nothing to prevent them from pushing a "security patch" at a later date that opens up more holes.

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[Canberra1]

A forensic autopsy will also include a inspection tool to stop unauthorized changes and reveal checksums for everything. Telco have DEV,QA and Prod test environments. You never to live updates on production, unless you are a 2 bit company. Obviously 'inactivated' code wont exist, and the security logs examined. You give these university students, say a 100K reward, and sent regular dumps, then you have have a high confidence level. The days of buy and forget, are over.

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[John Da' Baddest]

But risk-assessments and vulnerability mitigations are done in the pre-proof phase - ie, to AVOID trouble, or potential trouble, before it hits you in the face. Eg, how many traffic accidents do YOU need before you're convinced to wear a seat belt?

This whole "slave to human nature" thing never stops hurting us; by this I mean the instinct deficiencies when working intangibles -- especially future probabilities, statistics, risk, etc. And clearly some strategies could be both *-ist and non- *-ist at the s

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[meow_1947]

Closest to proof you are going to get without proper disclosure. https://www.cvedetails.com/ven... [cvedetails.com]

Meng and 2Michaels were released

[flyingfsck]

Meng was released and went back to China. The two Michaels were released and returned to Canada. So the Huawei equipment should be magically safe now.

Yes! Put in Cisco crap!

[gweihir]

You know, where you do not suspect it is insecure, but you _know_ it is insecure! Knowing is always better than suspecting, right?

Well at least this country is not at a total loss

[mcbain9000]

Regardless of your political views. CCP , ACCESS DENIED why too late as well

More corporate welfare for the usual suspects

[Growlley]

pork barrel patriotism.

Translation:

[BAReFO0t]

Huawei has agreed to add NSA backdoors too.
I wonder what China will have to say about that...