The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is warning American companies not to use hardware and digital services created by Chinese companies. DHS says that technology equipment and products made in China may contain backdoors, bugdoors, or hidden data-stealing mechanisms that could be used by Chinese authorities to steal data from Western companies and forward the information to local competitors, aiming to serve China's economic interests at the expense of other countries.
All equipment and services associated with Chinese companies should be considered cyber risks as well as business risks, according to the U.S. DHS. In addition, the DHS argues that Chinese national security laws allow the government to force any local company and citizen to change products and engage in espionage or intellectual property theft.
The US DHS describes this practice as «data theft funded by the US government».
Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf said: “For too long, U.S. networks and data have been exposed to cyberthreats linked to China, as that data is used to give Chinese companies an unfair competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Practices that give the Chinese government unauthorized access to sensitive data put the U.S. economy and businesses . We urge businesses to exercise caution before entering into any agreement with a company linked to China.” As reported by ZDNet, Wolf described China in a separate speech on December 21 as a “clear and present threat” to U.S. democracy.
The US DHS warning comes about a month before the new US President, Joe Biden, is to nominate the head of DHS. Under the Trump, US officials have focused on cracking down on Chinese theft from American companies.
It is worth noting that FBI Director Christopher Wray told Fox News in July that half of the FBI's approximately 5,000 counterintelligence cases involved the theft of US technology by China
