Lithuanian Ministry of Defense asks people to “throw away” their Chinese phones

Consumers should throw away their Chinese phones and avoid buying new ones, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense warned.

A report from its National Cyber ​​Security Center tested 5G mobile phones from Chinese manufacturers.

Researchers have identified that one Xiaomi phone had built-in censorship tools, while another Huawei model may be susceptible to cyber-attacks.

Huawei said no user data will be sent externally.

“Our recommendation is not to buy new Chinese mobile phones, and to remove those that are already as reasonable as possible,” said Defense Minister Margiris Abukevicius.

Censorship

Xiaomi’s flagship Mi 10T 5G phone was affirmed to have software that could identify and control terms including “Liberate Tibet”, “Long live Taiwan independence” or “Democracy movement”, the report stated.

It highlights more than 449 terms that can be censored by Xiaomi phone system apps, including the standard Internet browser.

In Europe, this capability has been disabled on these models, but the report argues that it can be activated remotely at any time.

Xiaomi did not respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

“This is important not only for Lithuania, but for all the countries that use Xiaomi equipment,” the center said.

The smartphone manufacturer has risen in popularity with affordable models, seeing a 64% increase in revenue in its second quarter compared to the previous year.

Huawei P40

The report also highlighted a bug in Huawei’s P40 5G phone, which puts users at risk of cyber-security breaches.

“The official Huawei application store AppGallery leads users to third-party e-shops where some of the applications of anti-virus programs have been found to be malicious or infected with viruses,” a joint statement from the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense and its National Cyber ​​Security Center said. .

The BBC is not responsible for the content of any external site.

Check out the original tweet on Twitter

A Huawei spokesman told the BBC it adheres to the laws and regulations of the countries where it operates, and prioritizes cyber security and privacy.

“The data will never be processed outside of the Huawei device,” he added.

“AppGallery collects and processes only the data necessary to enable its customers to search, install and manage third party apps, just like other app stores.”

Huawei also conducts security checks to ensure that users only “download apps that are secure,” he said.