British defence firms tell staff not to charge phones in Chinese-built EVs over fears of espionage
British defence firms tell staff not to charge phones in Chinese-built EVs over fears of espionage
Fears over espionage from Beijing have led defence companies to advise staff to exercise caution if they own Chinese-built cars
British firms working for the UK’s military or intelligence services are advising staff not to connect their mobile phones to Chinese-made electric cars over fears that Beijing could steal sensitive national security data.
Executives at two of the nation’s leading defence giants have told The i Paper that the entire sector is taking a “cautious” and “belt and braces” approach to the possibility of the Chinese state spying on staff via the country’s electric vehicles (EVs).
The security clampdown within the UK’s highly secretive defence sector follows revelations from The i Paper that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has banned cars relying on Chinese technology from sensitive military sites across the country. In some cases, the MoD has asked staff to park their EVs at least two miles from their workplace.
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The latest disclosure of security worries relating to Chinese EVs could also raise concern among some EV buyers, who are increasingly turning to brands like BYD because of their affordability and longer range.
The role of Chinese companies and equipment in critical infrastructure was brought sharply into focus after the government was recently forced to take control of British Steel from its Chinese owner, Jingye Group, to prevent it from closing blast furnaces at the country’s last virgin steelmaking site.
It is understood that the UK’s leading military production groups, including BAE Systems, Rolls Royce, and Raytheon, as well as US defence giant Lockheed Martin and French defence and cyber security firm Thales, are among those firms that have taken precautions against the potential for Chinese EVs to spy on their staff.
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We all need to learn to use charging cables for charging, and data cables for data connections, and not use these general purpose cables anymore. Maybe not today, but sooner or later there will be some widespread malware that teaches us the hard way.
Your phone should be configured to only allow charging and no data transfer by default. This is not a hardware issue and can be solved by just training employees properly.
Thanks. It never occurred to me to do that. I rarely connect my phone to anything other than a wall socket anyway, but just in case...
Took me a few minutes to find the setting. It turned out I needed to have developer mode enabled to change it on Android, so it's probably not something that a lot of people are aware of.
Problem is that with USB-C, every time you plug a device to charge, it’s negotiating voltage and amperage with the charger via the data lines.
5V2A is all you need. Simply wait for the phone to charge or carry additional batteries if you need more power
Well all the phones are made in China too, so…
There's some phone that's made in Germany that I remember. It is not competitive, but it exists.
kagis
Gigaset.
https://www.gigaset.com/hq_en/
Smartphones Made in Germany
Gigaset is the only company in the world that produces smartphones in Germany. That is a statement. And only consistent, because we have been manufacturing modern telecommunications solutions at the Bocholt production site for seven decades now.
kagis more
Apparently also Hungary:
https://mobilityarena.com/european-cell-phone-brands/
List Of Smartphones That Are Made In Europe
Gigaset, the German phone maker, produces their cordless phones, smartphones, and smart home systems in Germany, making it one of the few cell phone brands that still manufacture on the old continent.
In September 2023, HMD Global began to manufacture the Nokia XR21 in Europe, specifically in Hungary. That is it. I am aware of only two European cell phone brands that do any manufacturing in Europe today in 2023.
I don't think that we make any phones in the US any more.
https://usamadeproducts.biz/electronics-cell-phones.html
There hasn't been a truly USA made phone since the mid-2000's when ever increasing demand and competition resulted in most phone companies shifting production off-shore to Taiwan, and now China, Vietnam and India.
They do list the Liberty Phone, which is an extremely expensive, low-end phone ($2k, 4GB RAM) with some major components manufactured in the US and assembled in the US.
Gigaset is bankrupt though. 🫤
Why would this only be the case for electric cars?
Obviously only electric cars have transmitters in them. Gas cars get their system updates from a pump 🙄
/Hopefullyobviouslysarcasm
I assume because those are the only type of Chinese cars being imported into Europe?
Yes, many cars build in China by western companies are imported but I'd assume the threat level of those is a lot lower than vehicles build in China by Chinese companies.
But the phones. .. The phones are also made in China and many are designed by Chinese companies
Doesn't it charge when you connect it via USB for Google car play, or does this work via Bluetooth?
Also the car might be the bigger issue here because it already has a computer and knows if you park at some government agency or military facilities between 9 and 5 etc. VW already did that.
Europe slowly is finally embrasing war mentally again. I dont like it. But thats the reality. We have to have this mentally. There are the big empires that want to snap us out
What guarantees you that your cheap Chinese-made charge-only cable does not actually contain some malware injection in the hardware (connectors or cable rim) :p
It's possible, but it would be harder.
Do cables actually have logic circuits on them??
Depends on the type of cable but some do - all but the lowest of the bottom end of USB-C cables for example will have some sort of chip in them to negotiate charging rate, and those that support fancier things like Thunderbolt will have a more complicated chip.
If you're setting out to install more potentially nefarious things on a cable it's definitely possible to make them fit in - see this cable sold for pen testing for example.
Use wireless charging. Can't connect to what isn't there.