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10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 JANUARY 2019 NEWS YANNICK PACE SAFE City Malta director Joe Cuschieri has dismissed security concerns related to Chinese tech giant Huawei, insisting nothing will be left to chance as far as security is concerned. Safe City Malta is a govern- ment company which has been set up to manage an ad- vanced surveillance project across the island. The project will be implemented through a public-private partnership between Safe City Malta and Huawei, which is being eyed with suspicion by several gov- ernments over spying fears. Cuschieri said that Safe City Malta's engineers would be taking the necessary technical and operational measures to ensure an "appropriate level of data protection and informa- tion security". The company, he said, would be ensuring confidentiality, data integrity and availability according to "approved access policies". "In other words, a zero trust security principle applied to all aspects of the operation, and not just with regard to a particular underlying technology pro- vider," Cuschieri told MaltaToday. He added that Huawei would only be providing hardware solutions. "Hua- wei will not be operating any Safe City equipment, and will not even have di- rect access for technical support pur- poses." "Data will be stored in Malta and will stay in Malta, governed by a security and data retention policy." Cuschieri, who is also the CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority, said "technical measures using third-party technology will also be in place to con- tinuously audit network traffic flow". Fears about Huawei include the pos- sibility that the company could develop 'backdoors', or weak links in their infra- structure, that would allow hackers or intelligence services to listen in on com- munications in other countries. Cuschieri also noted that internation- al concerns were mainly about Hua- wei's 5G equipment and not the type of equipment it will be providing for the Safe City project. While concerns about Huawei are not new – a 2012 US House Intelligence committee report concluded it was a company that should be viewed with suspicion and there seems to have been an escalation on this matter in recent months. In December, Meng Wanzhou, the company's chief financial officer and the daughter of its founder was arrested in Canada on charges of breaching US sanctions against Iran. Towards the end of last year, both Australia and New Zealand said they would be banning Huawei from sup- plying equipment to support their 5G mobile network infrastructures. The UK and Germany are also reported to be viewing the company with increased caution. Huawei has always maintained that it is a normal communications com- pany and has dismissed concerns as un- founded. Speaking at the World Economic Fo- rum in Davos last week, Huawei chair- man Liang Hua warned that the com- pany could shift away from Western countries if it continues to face restric- tions. "We would transfer the technol- ogy partnership to countries where we are welcomed and where we can have a collaboration." Malta part of European-level discussions In addition to its role in the Safe City project, Huawei has also signed two memoranda of understanding with the Maltese government includ- ing one about the provision of 5G mobile connectivity. The technology is expected to be roughly 100 times faster than the cur- rent 4G system and will make it possi- ble for the network to carry and process huge amounts of data. This new capa- bility will be essential to support future artificial intelligence applications and connected computing devices. But while Malta's relationship with Huawei promises to boost the country's tech industry, many have pointed out that the company's reputation was one to be wary of, especially considering the caution being exercised by other west- ern states. Speaking to Euronews this week, Na- tionalist MEP Roberta Metsola said, "When multiple member states with heavy security infrastructure start to express concerns, we need to take them into con- sideration. Whenever there is a sense of state interfer- ence, proven or not…you cannot ignore it." Asked whether Malta had discussed security concerns with other governments, a government spokesperson said Malta was "actively participating in discussions on the matter within the structures of the EU". "Discussions on cyber issues are classified by the Council, and therefore details of the on- going discussions cannot be di- vulged," the spokesperson said. They added that so far no of- ficial position had been taken by the European Commission, the Council, and the European Parliament. Sources in Brussels have told MaltaToday that as things stand, three Member States – France, Slovenia and Poland – have declared that they are con- sidering placing restrictions on Huawei's operations. Greece, Italy, Finland, Bulgar- ia, Latvia, Portugal and Austria have said that they do not in- tend to place any restrictions on the company, with the remain- der of the EU's member states still assessing the situation. Meanwhile, the Romanian EU presidency has placed cyberse- curity, and the examination of any pos- sible threat at the top of its agenda. Struggle for tech industry dominance The current attitudes towards Huawei must be viewed within the context of long-standing anxiety on the part of the US government and industry about Bei- jing's Made in China 2025 policy that seeks to make China dominant in global high-tech manufacturing. Huawei recently surpassed Apple to become the second-largest smartphone seller in the world. The company in- tends to spend $20 billion dollars on re- search and development alone this year. In many cases, concerns about Huawei aren't necessarily about what it has al- ready done, but instead, about what it might do. The fact that China's National Intel- ligence Law, enacted in 2017, obliges Chinese "organisations and citizens" to "support, co-operate with and collabo- rate in national intelligence work" has further fuelled the West's unease. maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 JANUARY 2019 NEWS mobile connectivity. The technology is expected to be roughly 100 times faster than the cur- rent 4G system and will make it possi- ble for the network to carry and process huge amounts of data. This new capa- bility will be essential to support future artificial intelligence applications and connected computing devices. But while Malta's relationship with Huawei promises to boost the country's tech industry, many have pointed out that the company's reputation was one to be wary of, especially considering the caution being exercised by other west- ern states. Speaking to Euronews this week, Na- tionalist MEP Roberta Metsola said, "When multiple member states with heavy security infrastructure start to express concerns, we Who is scared of Chinese tech giant Huawei? Huawei will test its 5G mobile network in Malta and is also supplying the hardware for proposed Safe City project. Is Malta being cautious in the face of growing international concerns over the Chinese giant's security concerns? Digital economy parliamentary secretary Silvio Schembri (left). In addition to its role in the Safe City project, Huawei has also signed two memoranda of understanding with the Maltese government including one about the provision of 5G mobile connectivity