Chinese companies such as Huawei have always been accused of helping the Chinese government in its spying operations. Countries such as the U.S. and U.K. take special measures to ensure that any Huawei equipment being installed is free from all vulnerabilities that can let China spy on them. A new report from the Australian Financial Review claims that top spy agencies like the MI6 and CIA have banned Lenovo machines from their networks over fears that they might contain “back-door” hardware that would aid China’s spying attempts.
Lenovo has said that it hasn’t been informed on any such restriction on sales, and that it would look in to this situation closely. Australia’s Department of Defence has confirmed that Lenovo machines haven’t been approved for top-secret networks. Back in 2006, the U.S. State Department said that over 16,000 Lenovo computers won’t be used on its classified systems so as to not compromise U.S. information and communication channels. Right now there’s no proof that Lenovo actually installs “back-door” hardware to aid China. Huawei recently told its criticizers to put up evidence of its links with the Chinese government or “shut up.”
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