Chinese communications giant Huawei was able to eavesdrop on any conversation taking place on one of the biggest mobile networks in the Netherlands.

Hauwei staff were able to monitor all of KPN's mobile users and eavesdrop on their private conversations - and even knew which numbers were tapped by police or intelligence agencies, according to Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant. 

The newspaper cited a report prepared by consultancy firm Capgemini for KPN, which it said flagged that Huawei could have been accessing users' calls in 2010 without KPN knowing. 

Even phone calls by the former Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, government ministers and Chinese dissidents were allegedly able to be monitored by Huawei. 

Dutch MPs from across the political spectrum today called for the government to respond to the report about Huawei's role in the KPN mobile network.   

The Dutch telecoms company today said that Huawei had not to its knowledge improperly monitored any of its mobile users or that customer data was stolen. 

KPN confirmed the existence of the report, which has not been released by KPN or De Volkskrant, but said it had been intended to analyse risks associated with Huawei.

The report's findings were so shocking that the internal report was kept secret, de Volkskrant reports.

'The continued existence of KPN Mobile is in serious jeopardy as licenses can be revoked or government and businesses can relinquish their trust in KPN if it is known that the Chinese government can eavesdrop on KPN mobile numbers and shut down the network,' the report said.  

The report added that Huawei staff - both in KPN buildings and abroad in China - had the ability to access unlimited KPN mobile numbers and eavesdrop on their calls. At the time, the company's mobile network had 6.5 million subscribers. 

Meanwhile Huawei, KPN's main supplier for equipment in its 3G and 4G mobile networks, rejected outright any suggestion that it could have improperly monitored the telecom firm's users. 

Michel van Eeten, a professor at Delft University and a member of the Cyber Security Council told the newspaper that the telecommunications market was extremely competitive in 2010. 

'That is how cheap Huawei got in,' he said. 'At that time, security was not as important. That way of working would be considered unacceptable now.'  

'No supplier of KPN has 'unauthorized, uncontrolled or unlimited' access to our networks and systems, or is capable of eavesdropping on KPN clients,' a KPN spokesperson said, referring to the De Volkskrant story.

KPN added that the Capgemini report had not established whether Huawei had monitored any users or taken data.

'In all years, we have never observed that Huawei took client information,' the company said.

It added: 'Partly on the basis of the risk analysis in question, KPN at the time decided not to outsource full maintenance of its core mobile network.'

Source: dailymail.co.uk

BDST: 1940 HRS, APR 24, 2021
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