Chinese IoT suppliers expose UK businesses to espionage and data theft | Computer Weekly
Summary
China’s development of cellular internet of things (IoT) modules, which are widely used in smart devices in agriculture, manufacturing, transport and CCTV, poses a serious but largely unrecognised risk, according to a study published today. What Parton calls “venture communism” encourages Chinese companies to buy out foreign firms, particularly startups which are not protected by the UK’s National Security Investment Act, to grow, obtain technology and intellectual property, or to reduce competition. He argues that China could access data from IoT modules in logistics, manufacturing and transport systems to monitor industrial supply chains. However, it is built on the back of work commissioned by the Chinese Communist Party to police minority populations such as the Uighurs, who have been subjected to internment camps in China. The National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of GCHQ, warned councils in 2019 that smart city technology suppliers may come under pressure to exfiltrate data from the intelligence services in their countries.