Security committee ‘questions wisdom’ of using Chinese technology

OTTAWA—The House of Commons’ national-security committee “questions the wisdom” of using technology produced in China in the electronic devices and software Canadians use daily.

The committee’s expression of concern comes as the federal government weighs allowing Chinese firm Huawei to participate in building Canada’s next-generation 5G mobile networks.

The MPs flag the difficulty of knowing whether to trust technologies in their newly released examination of cybersecurity in the financial sector as a national-security issue.

The committee recommends that, in the next Parliament, a special subcommittee be dedicated to studying these issues, including the security of supply chains, protecting key sectors such as banking and the effect of emerging technologies.

It says the federal government should ensure coming digital products and services have security baked into their designs.

The MPs also urge the government to look at ensuring all sensitive data moved within Canada be routed only through Canadian servers and networks, so that it’s not exposed to foreign snooping.

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