Huawei is one of the smartphone manufacturers that is at the center of many controversies regarding the products they sell, but today we also find out why the British are afraid of Chinese products. According to some information that appeared today, Huawei's telecommunications products use old software, which scares the British because it will be without updates in about a year and a half, so it can become vulnerable to attacks.
Huawei has implemented in its products an operating system called VxWorks, from a company called Wind River, and the version that is installed in its telecommunications products is not exactly new. Moreover, those from Wind River have announced that starting from 2020 they will no longer offer security updates for that version of the operating system in Huawei products, so hackers will be able to attack them to exploit them.
Huawei: Here's why Europeans fear Chinese products
Huawei basically sold telecommunications equipment that had old software to mobile phone operators in Great Britain, something that apparently didn't really matter when buying, probably because the price was so good. However, until now there have been no exploits of the respective operating system, so Huawei has little to worry about its products for now, but this is the reason why the British are a bit wary of their products.
"Huawei Technologies is facing increased scrutiny in Britain because it is using an aging software component. The sources said the version of VxWorks being used by Huawei will stop receiving security patches and updates from Wind River in 2020, even though some of the products it is embedded in will still be in service, potentially leaving British telecoms networks vulnerable to attack."
Huawei has sold telecommunications equipment whose warranty exceeds the year 2020, so theoretically it should also offer update support for it, but until then the British fear that the software could be exploited. Huawei was recently at the center of another security warning in which the Democratic Party asked its members to avoid their phones, but also those of ZTE because they would represent a security risk.
