Dharamshala, 26th September: After a government assessment found that Chinese smartphones have built-in censorship capabilities, Lithuania’s Defense Ministry advised residents to avoid buying them. Reuters quoted Lithuanian Defence Deputy Minister Margiris Abukevicius as saying, “Our recommendation is to not buy new Chinese phones, and to get rid of those already purchased as fast as reasonably possible,” The Centre stated, “This is essential not only for Lithuania but for other countries that employ Xiaomi equipment.”
One Xiaomi phone had built-in censoring tools, while another Huawei model had security issues, according to the report. Huawei has stated that no customer data is sent outside of the company, and Xiaomi has stated that it does not restrict messages. The Xiaomi smartphone was also found to be sending encrypted phone usage data to a server in Singapore, according to the investigation.
A weakness in Huawei’s P40 5G phone was also noted in the paper, putting customers at risk of cyber-security breaches. “The official Huawei application store AppGallery directs users to third-party e-stores where some of the applications have been identified as malicious or infected with viruses by anti-virus programs,” according to a joint statement from the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence and its National Cyber Security Centre.
These censoring powers, according to the ministry’s research, target terms like “Free Tibet,” “Long live Taiwan independence,” and “democracy movement.” The capabilities have been turned off for the European market, but they may be turned on remotely at any time, according to the report. In sum, the analysis concludes that Xiaomi phones may block 449 phrases. It also states that the list is updated on a regular basis, implying that Xiaomi may add or remove phrases at any time.
This isn’t the first time Xiaomi has been the subject of a security scare. A Forbes investigation earlier this year accused Xiaomi of capturing private data of its users via the preloaded browser on Xiaomi devices. The Xiaomi Mi 10T 5G was also transferring encrypted phone usage data to a server in Singapore, according to the research. In addition, a security weakness in the Huawei P40 5G was uncovered.
Apart from that, the relationship between Lithuania and China has been strained for a long time. After Taiwan stated that its mission in Lithuania will be known as the Taiwan Representative Office, China sought the recall of Lithuania’s ambassador to China just last month.
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