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‘Report on KPN confirms years of rumors about espionage China’

That the Chinese technology company Huawei could hold talks in the past eavesdropping of KPN customers is worrisome, experts say. They also believe that the government should do more against Chinese (economic) espionage in our country.

“For years, intelligence services have been calling for Huawei and other Chinese telecom companies to engage in espionage. There has always been a lack of concrete evidence. This report confirms the rumors and makes it very clear how the Chinese can proceed,” said Sico van der Meer, cyber security researcher at Clingendael Institute.

Van der Meer is referring to a secret report about KPN that was released by the public ten years later de Volkskrant. It states that in 2009 Huawei was able to eavesdrop on KPN mobile numbers without authorization, uncontrolled and unlimited, from both China and KPN buildings. It also concerned the aircraft of the then Prime Minister Balkenende, various ministers and Chinese dissidents. Huawei also knew which numbers were tapped by police and intelligence services.

Lost sight

The company gained unauthorized access to the heart of the mobile network. “Because Huawei was allowed to listen in on parts of conversations to check whether the quality was good enough, they could see everything they wanted in the network. KPN gave up all the technology and thus lost sight of what Huawei was doing exactly”, says cyber security expert Ronald Prins.

It is unclear whether the Chinese company actually used the information. “But the information is of course interesting, which is what other countries would like to know.”

When asked, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced that it would look into the matter more closely. According to the ministry, measures were taken in 2019. Telecom providers have since been obliged to take additional security measures, extra high requirements are set for suppliers of services and products, and developments in threats and technology are structurally monitored. It is unclear whether these measures will be adjusted as a result of this report.

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