New Delhi: China has the ability to spy on millions of people in Britain by “weaponising” microchips in cars, domestic appliances, and even light bulbs, according to a report sent to the government by a former diplomat who has advised Parliament on Beijing.
The Washington-based consultancy OODA published the report on Monday saying that the potential threat to national security goes beyond the threat from Chinese-made components in mobile phones that led to a ban on Huawei products being used in mobile infrastructure, the Telegraph reported.
The ‘Trojan horse’ technology poses a ‘wide-ranging’ threat to UK national security, the report highlighted.
Charles Parton, the author of the report has been quoted in the publication as saying, “We are not yet awake to this threat. China has spotted an opportunity to dominate this market, and if it does so it can harvest an awful lot of data as well as make foreign countries dependent on them.”
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What is the threat exposed in the report?
The report said that the modules collect data and then transmit it via the 5G network, giveing China the opportunity to monitor the movements of intelligence targets including people, arms, and supplies, and to use the devices for industrial espionage. Millions of them are already in use in the UK.
The report also said ministers have not been able to grasp the threat posed by the “pervasive presence” of the modules, known as cellular IoTs, which stands for Internet of Things, a concern echoed by senior MPs. The report undermines the need to take urgent action to ban Chinese-made cellular IoTs from goods sold in Britain before it is too late.
What are items that contain the threat?
Cellular IoTs, which means Internet of Things, are small modules used in almost every item starting from smart fridges to advanced weapons systems to monitor usage and transmit data back to the owner, and sometimes the manufacturer via 5G.
Earlier this month there were concerns that the security services had dismantled ministerial cars and found at least one of the devices hidden inside another component. It sparked fear that China had the capability of monitoring the movements of everyone from the prime minister downward using the modules.
The report noted that the problem goes far beyond ministerial cars. The items containing the modules include laptop computers, voice-controlled smart speakers, smart watches, fridges, light bulbs, smart energy meters, and other appliances that can be controlled via app; body-worn police cameras, doorbell cameras, and security cameras, bank card payment machines, cars and even hot tubs.
Armed with artificial intelligence and machine learning to process huge quantities of data, the report said China for instance can monitor the movements of US weapons sales in order to work out if it was selling arms to Taiwan.
“It is time to wake up,” the report says. “Free and open countries should ban Chinese manufactured IoT modules from their supply chains as soon as possible.”