Canada orders China's Hikvision to close Canadian operations

OTTAWA, June 28 (Reuters) - The Canadian government has ordered Chinese surveillance camera manufacturer Hikvision, to cease operations in Canada over national security concerns, Industry Minister Melanie Joly said late on Friday.

Hikvision, also known as Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co, has faced numerous sanctions and restrictions by Canada's neighbor, the United States, over the past five and a half years for the firm's dealings and the use of its equipment in China's Xinjiang region, where rights groups have documented abuses against the Uyghur population and other Muslim communities.

"The government has determined that Hikvision Canada Inc's continued operations in Canada would be injurious to Canada's national security," Joly said on X, adding that the decision was taken after a multi-step review of information provided by Canada's security and intelligence community.

www.reuters.com

Do you have a Hikvision or Dahua security camera? Time to check/update firmware, or replace!

Chinese-made surveillance cameras are in British offices, high streets and even government buildings - and Panorama has investigated security flaws involving the two top brands. How easy is it to hack them and what does it mean for our security?

In a darkened studio inside the BBC's Broadcasting House in London, a man sits at his laptop and enters his password. Thousands of miles away, a hacker is watching everything he types. Next, the BBC employee picks up his mobile phone and enters the passcode. The hacker now has that, too.

A security flaw in the surveillance camera on the ceiling - manufactured by the Chinese firm Hikvision - means it's now vulnerable to attack.

"I own that device now - I can do whatever I want with that," says the hacker. "I can disable it… or I can use it to watch what's going on at the BBC." Thankfully for the man being watched, the hacker is working with the BBC. This is part of a series of experiments by Panorama to test the security of some Chinese-made surveillance cameras.

Hikvision and Dahua are two of the world's leading manufacturers of surveillance cameras. Nobody knows how many of their units line the UK's streets...

www.bbc.co.uk

Sales of Chinese CCTV cameras surge despite UK security ban

A Chinese CCTV giant labelled a security risk by the Government more than doubled sales of its surveillance cameras in Britain last year despite an official ban at sensitive locations.

Hikvision’s sales to UK and Irish customers rose to £32.6m in 2023 - the first full year of the company’s cameras being banned from certain government sites.

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, announced 19 months ago that Chinese camera companies would be banned from high-risk government properties amid a string of security and human rights concerns.

However, departments have been given lengthy timelines to rip out the equipment and the order does not cover many public sites or the private sector. Hikvision’s cameras are commonplace in schools, hospitals and local councils.

www.telegraph.co.uk

Kaspersky, China Telecom, China Mobile named 'threats to US national security'

 

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has labelled Kaspersky, China Mobile, and China Telecom as threats to national security.

The three companies join Huawei, ZTE, Chinese radio-comms vendor Hytera, and Chinese video surveillance systems vendors Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company and Dahua Technology Company.

Kaspersky is the first non-Chinese company to be added to the FCC's list, but the agency did not tie its decision to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

The companies were named under the USA's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 – a law that "prohibits the use of certain federal funds to obtain communications equipment or services from a company that poses a national security risk to US communications networks."

www.theregister.com