Huawei’s global cyber security officer claims current standards need an overhaul to meet current and future security challenges.
John Suffolk told delegates of a cyberspace conference in South Korea the communications industry and governments must redefine the way they work together to balance national security and privacy, and claimed current standards are anything but.
“The problem with standards today is that they are not standard,” Suffolk said during a panel discussion. “The more that governments, enterprises and technology vendors can detail common standards, understand their purpose and the positive difference they make and commit to their effective adoption…the more the world will begin to see a difference.”
Suffolk used the panel debate to reiterate Huawei’s commitment to working with “governments, customers and other stakeholders” to develop effective cyber security solutions. “We believe it is only by working together internationally as vendors, customers and policy and law makers, will we make a substantial difference in addressing the global cyber security challenge.”
Huawei published its second white paper on cyber security a day after the conference, which Suffolk says provides more detail on the firm’s approach to addressing current and future security challenges than its first paper, published in 2012.
In the paper Ken Hu, deputy chairman of Huawei’s board and chair of its Global Cyber Security committee, reiterated that it has “never been asked to provide access to our technology, or provide any data or information on any citizen or organization to any government, or their agencies.”
The statement hints at Huawei’s recent problems gaining security clearance from US authorities, due to concerns it maintains close ties to China’s government.
Suffolk separately told Bloomberg it could take the firm up to a decade to overcome the US government’s concerns, and conceded the worries are “genuine.”