The Spanish Government wants Huawei to monitor for system wiretaps

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Huawei will manage authorized wiretaps for the Spanish government

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  • Huawei has won a contract to provide digital storage for the Spanish Government
  • The Chinese tech giant will store and classify court-ordered wiretaps
  • This contrasts other western states that now largely avoid Huawei, and Chinese tech

Any Spanish government wiretaps carried out by law enforcement agencies will soon be managed by Chinese telecom giant Huawei thanks to a recently-won contract.

The €12.3 million contract was awarded to Huawei after a standard public procurement procedure - and the contract includes digital storage of judicially-ordered wiretaps, reports The Objective.

Huawei will supply its own high performance storage servers, OceanStor 6800 V5 for the project, which will store and classify intercepted communications and data collected through state agencies.

Mixed messages

Sectors of the National Police in Spain have grown uneasy with Huawei’s involvement in sensitive systems, with sources expressing concern over strategic inconsistencies regarding China and the state’s access to data and a potential threat to national security.

Huawei points out that no backdoor has ever been identified within its telecommunications equipment, and the company asserts that it would not answer CCP requests for intelligence, nor would its equipment be used to spy (unless you count government wiretapping contracts).

"All Huawei products available in the Spanish market fully comply with local laws, regulations, and applicable product admission criteria and standards," A Huawei spokesperson told TechRadar Pro.

"With regard to the product concerned, namely OceanStor Dorado, is a common flash storage hardware that complies with the regulations related to the National Security Scheme and ICT security guide CCN-STIC. Huawei has no access to customer data, all the information stored in hardware belongs to and is at the exclusive disposal of the customer."

"Cybersecurity is Huawei’s top priority. Over the past 24 years, Huawei has kept a proven cybersecurity track record in Spain. We remain dedicated to working with our partners to strengthen Spain’s ICT ecosystem and drive positive societal impact."

Spain’s PM Pedro Sánchez has been one of the least combative towards Huawei’s presence, with Spain remaining a close partner within the EU for the company - holding several contracts with public administrations.

Interestingly enough though, the recent procurement comes in contrast to Spain’s de facto banishment of the Chinese telecom giant from all critical infrastructure, having reduced Huawei’s presence in the 5G cores of the largest three Spanish operators to 0%, according to Euronews.

European and American governments have been increasingly distancing themselves from Chinese technology firms in recent months, primarily citing national security concerns and the threat of exfiltrated data.

An ongoing trade war between the US and China has seen firms on both sides cut off from the opposing market, with market leaders like chipmaker Nvidia saying US tariffs mean it faces a multi-billion dollar hit.

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Ellen Jennings-Trace
Ellen Jennings-Trace
Staff Writer

Ellen has been writing for almost four years, with a focus on post-COVID policy whilst studying for BA Politics and International Relations at the University of Cardiff, followed by an MA in Political Communication. Before joining TechRadar Pro as a Junior Writer, she worked for Future Publishing’s MVC content team, working with merchants and retailers to upload content.

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