[kictanet] [cyber risk management opportunity for Africa] Huawei willing to sign "no-spy" "no backdoor" agreements with governments: Chairman

[Patrick A. M. Maina]

Good morning Listers,
It is my hope that Kenya government and other African countries will move swiftly to take advantage of Huawei's "no spy" "no backdoor" agreement offer (and then push for similar agreements from other manufactures like CISCO, Intel as well as OS and DB providers like Microsoft, IBM, and Google - among others) because once international pressure is off, it will be very difficult (if not impossible) to get such deals on win-win terms. 

This is a rare and time-bound window of opportunity for African countries because we seldom have real international negotiation leverage and we do need affordable technologies (and supplier diversity) so hopefully it will not be wasted!

Huawei can benefit by using Africa as a PR model to assure Europe and other regions where its technologies are popular. This can also turn the PR tables and put the spotlight on other global manufactures who are also known to offer undocumented backdoor access to their technologies. In the long run, this could lead to higher levels of trust within global markets - a win for everyone. 

Kenya can also leverage such agreements as a basis for B2G partnerships in cyber-defense to help Kenya develop indigenous technical capabilities for improved Cyber Resilience. Not just relying on imported (opaque - and probably trojan ridden) tools - as is currently the case - but being able to write our own low-level quality assurance tools for example.

Data has no value if you can't protect it (from risks like theft / corruption / destruction / hijack etc). 

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Excerpt:

“We are willing to sign no-spy agreements with governments, including the UK government, to commit ourselves to making our equipment meet the no-spy, no-backdoors standard,” Huawei chairman Liang Hua told reporters in London via an interpreter.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-huawei-security-britain-chairman/huawei-willing-to-sign-no-spy-agreements-with-governments-chairman-idUSKCN1SK1HL
Have a great day,

Brgds,Patrick.
Patrick A. M. Maina[Cross-domain Innovator | Independent Public Policy Analyst - Indigenous Innovations]



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