A report revealed by the Dutch ‘national daily’ (De Volkskrant), which had been hidden for more than a decade, revealed that China’s Huawei Group was alleged to have had arbitrary access to information and customer data on the Royal Dutch Telecom Mobile (KPN) network, in particular the telephone conversations of then Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s phone conversations.
The Dutch daily ‘Nation’ reported on 17 June that according to an investigation report completed in 2010 but kept secret, Huawei Group had access to all information on KPN’s mobile network, including the telephone conversations of Balconnende, who served as prime minister of the Netherlands from 2002 to 2010, as well as other cabinet members’ phone conversations with people. The report concludes that, because of the information The report concluded that the theft of information could have “seriously threatened the survival” of Royal Dutch Telecom Mobile, which had 6.5 million customers at the time.
Royal Dutch Telecom has used Huawei technology since 2009 and employs six Huawei employees working at its headquarters in The Hague. After being alerted by the Dutch Internal Intelligence Service (AIVD) that Huawei might be engaged in espionage, the relevant parties began a security investigation.
An analysis by Capgemini, which was consulted by the national daily, is “alarming” and clearly warns of the dangers Huawei poses not only to the Dutch government and Dutch companies, but also to Chinese dissidents in the Netherlands. According to the experts’ analysis, Huawei could have tapped all calls and seized customer data because Huawei’s technicians went straight to the heart of the Dutch mobile network.
Another conclusion of the investigation report is that one of Huawei’s servers allowed it to tap the content of calls ordered by Dutch authorities, although Capgemini did not specify whether Chinese Huawei employees employed by Royal Dutch Telecom tapped the content of the calls in question.
It may be on the basis of this finding that Royal Dutch Telecom decided not to grant Huawei the right to participate in the maintenance of the entire mobile market in the Netherlands, with the contract eventually being awarded to other Western companies.
After the news broke in the ‘National Journal’, Royal Dutch Telecom issued a statement saying that none of its suppliers had accessed its network without permission. In recent years, the group has not been aware that our customers’ data may have been stolen or tapped by Huawei Group.
In March 2021, Dutch media broke the story that Huawei may have been obtaining customer invoices since 2004 from Telfort, another Dutch mobile telecommunications company that was acquired by Royal Dutch Telecom in 2005. An audit conducted in 2011 also confirmed the theft of information from Telfort, but Royal Dutch Telecom did not see the need to continue the investigation and did not alert the authorities responsible for personal information protection. As for customers, no relevant warning messages were received.
There is conflicting information as to whether Dutch intelligence agencies have identified a “back door” into Royal Dutch Telecom’s systems. Huawei, for its part, says it is ready to fix any possible “flaws” but denies engaging in espionage of any nature.
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