In recent news, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it was adding Pacific Network Corp plus its subsidiary company ComNet (USA) LLC and China Unicom (Americas) Operations Limited to its list of firms deemed threats to national security.
In its announcement, the federal agency explained that these “companies are subject to the Chinese government's exploitation, influence, and control, and could be forced to comply with requests” such as intercepting sensitive information or possibly rerouting specific communications.
The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau chimed in and added that the hardware and services these companies provide could potentially open the door for the Chinese government to covertly carry out espionage campaigns and collect data on US national security activities.
The FCC also added the Russian cybersecurity company, Kaspersky, to this growing list along with the freshly added China Telecom (Americas) Corp and China Mobile International USA in 2022. This list includes Huawei Technologies Company, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, and Dahua Technology Company.
These two influential agencies agree that "known vulnerabilities in the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which governs internet traffic routing, continue to put U.S. person and commercial data and communications at risk of theft, espionage, and sabotage by foreign adversaries."
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