The expert highlighted Canada has a high level of security systems to prevent potential spying or hacking from China
The Canadian government is not considering a ban on the use of equipment provided by Chinese vendor Huawei, The Globe and Mail reported, citing a top government cyber official.
Cyber officials believe that Canada has enough protection measures in place in order to deal with potential risks of hacking or spying from China, according to the report.
Scott Jones, head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, told government officials that the country’s facilities for testing Huawei’s equipment and software were superior to Canada’s allies and should be able to prevent security breaches.
“We have a very advanced relationship with our telecommunications providers, something that is different from most other countries, to be honest, from what I have seen,” Jones told the House of Commons committee on public safety and national security last week. “We have a program that is very deep in terms of working on increasing that broader resilience piece, especially as we are looking at the next-generation telecommunications networks.”
According to the report, the Trump administration has been increasing pressure on Canada, the U.K. and New Zealand – three of its partners in the Five Eyes security intelligence-sharing alliance – to join the United States and Australia in banning Huawei and fellow Chinese vendor ZTE from providing telecom equipment and technology for domestic 5G networks.
“One of the things we are looking at with our Five Eyes is to make sure they are aware of our program, our approach, which is very comprehensive in terms of dealing with the full risks across the telecommunications sector,” Jones said.
The report also highlighted that a senior government official said the Canadian government had not completely ruled out a 5G ban on Huawei. The official said that Canadian cyber officials are currently studying the best ways to protect the country’s communications networks for the future deployment of 5G technology.
In August, Australian authorities announced a decision to prevent certain vendors from taking part in the rollout of 5G mobile networks across the country, effectively banning Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from involvement.
Huawei said the decision by the Australian government to block the company from the country’s domestic 5G market is politically motivated and not the result of a fact-based decision-making process.
Also in August, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which includes new regulations that ban government agencies doing business with Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE.
The bill prohibits the U.S. government and its contractors from buying certain telecommunications and video surveillance equipment from Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese communications companies. The ban covers components and services deemed “essential” or “critical” to any government system.
