US Officials Banned From Using ZTE, Huawei Phones Due To Hacking Vulnerability

The U.S. government is taking precaution against smartphones made by certain Chinese manufacturers. Officials in the country are being prohibited from using devices made by ZTE and Huawei after issues pertaining to hacking vulnerabilities were uncovered recently.

The Defense Authorization Act has just been signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump, and part of this is a prohibition on the use of ZTE and Huawei devices by any U.S. official. The law states that officials are not allowed to use “telecommunications equipment produced by Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Corporation (or any subsidiary or affiliate of such entities).”

The government also advises employees, agencies and contractors who have devices from ZTE and Huawei to get rid of them and replace them with more secure alternatives. Under the act, agencies are requested to allocate funding to companies working with the government that will be used in replacing existing devices from the Chinese manufacturers.

The move comes less than a week after a Department of Homeland Security-funded research exposed that smartphones made and sold by ZTE are among those with vulnerabilities that allow hackers to access user data, emails and text messages. ZTE has since acknowledged the manufacturing vulnerabilities and confirmed that it is rolling out a fix as soon as possible.

The research wasn’t able to determine if hackers have already exploited the vulnerabilities that remained unknown to the public until last week. It also wasn’t clear if ZTE became aware of the vulnerabilities before the research was conducted, or if the research was the one that pointed out the vulnerabilities to the company.

It’s also important to note that the government is also banning video surveillance and telecommunications hardware produced by other Chinese manufacturers, namely: Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, Dahua Technology Company and any of their affiliates and subsidiaries.