“We’re potentially married forever because we will rely on their support – it’s their product,” said Cypfer chief executive Daniel Tobok, a digital forensics expert whose company investigates cybersecurity incidents.Subscribe to our Newsletters
Security experts say Huawei’s role could give it access to a wide range of data gleaned from how, when and where Canadian customers use their electronic devices. It is information that government agencies would find most attractive.
“This can be used for a lot of things, for manipulation of businesses to harvesting of intellectual property,” Tobok said. “On a national security level, they can know who is where at any given time. They can use that as leverage to jump into other operations of the government. They can influence elections.
“Everything is data today, literally. That’s why this is so dangerous.”