US keeps watchful over Chinese telecom devices, how about Vietnam?

VietNamNet Bridge – Experts have every reason to feel worried about the information security risks from the telecom devices provided by Chinese manufacturers.

A problem has found with the 1,000 modems HG8045A imported by the Vietnam Post and Telecom Corporation (VNPT) from Huawei, the Chinese large telecom device manufacturer, in 2014.

VNPT’s customers complained that they could not change passwords and therefore, had to use the default password provided by the supplier.

Dang Anh Son, deputy director of VNPT Hanoi, explained at a press conference held to clarify the problem that VNPT’s technicians made mistakes when providing the wrong password to clients.

The password provided to clients was the one which should have been reserved for VNPT Hanoi only.

In principle, VNPT uses the password for administration work. If customers complain about the service quality, VNPT’s workers will, through the password, to check the quality of the transmission line and modem’s usability. Therefore, only the service provider has the right to change the password.

Meanwhile, security experts commented that with the problem, customers may have their activities to be controlled by the other users of the same LANs.

Ngo Tuan Anh, vice president of BKAV, a well-known internet security service provider, said that it will be very dangerous if manufacturers can interfere the devices from a distance and change modem’s configuration.

In “best cases”, infiltrators would cause changes to the modem configuration, thus making it unable for users to connect internet.

In “worse cases,” hackers can penetrate into the systems intentionally, hijack DNS server, drive the users’ access to hackers’ servers so as to install malware and create backdoors for their tentative attacks.

A source said that thousands of Huawei HG8045Ahave been allocated by VNPT to its local branches. All the customers registering to use VNPT’s FTTH services have been provided the user name/password telecomadmin/admintelecom. However, it is a surprise that only the customers in Hanoi could not change the password.

Dr. Le DuyThac, member of the Science Council of the Vietnam Science & Technology Academy, said on Dat Viet that experts have every reason to worry about the security risks, while it would be even more serious if unsecured devices are installed at state agencies.

The anticipated high risk with the information security is the reason why the US and South Korea refused Huawei’s devices. Meanwhile, Vietnamese telephone and computer manufacturers have been importing components and finished products mostly from China to assemble and distribute domestically.

He said “better safe than sorry” is the principle useful to anyone.

However, an analyst commented that sometimes Vietnam needs to make a compromise between two measures – either saying ‘no’ to all the imports from China, or still using Chinese products until Vietnam can make products itself.

Source : http://english.vietnamnet.vn/