Congressional probe finds communications gear in Chinese cranes, raising spying concerns
Source: CNN Politics
Published 5:48 PM EST, Thu March 7, 2024
House lawmakers found that the equipment installed on the cranes cellular modems that can be used for remote communication were not documented in any contract between US ports and Chinese crane maker ZPMC, a congressional aide familiar with the investigation told CNN. When US port personnel went to China to inspect the cranes, the modems were already installed, the aide said.
The modems were found on more than one occasion on the ZPMC cranes, the aide said. Our Committees investigation found vulnerabilities in cranes at U.S. ports that could allow the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] to not only undercut trade competitors through espionage, but disrupt supply chains and the movement of cargo, devastating our nations economy, Rep. Mark Green, the Republican chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement to CNN.
Without a swift sea-change, we will continue to gift the CCP with an easy means of infiltrating our critical infrastructure on their quest for global dominance. In a statement on its website, ZPMC said it has always been committed to providing high-quality products and services to clients around the world. ZPMC always strictly complies with the laws and regulations of applicable countries.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, told CNN that claims that Chinese-made cranes pose a security risk are entirely paranoia. We firmly oppose the US overstretching the concept of national security and abusing national power to obstruct normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the US, Liu said. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the congressional probes findings.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/07/politics/congressional-probe-communications-gear-chinese-cranes/index.html
Martin68
(22,922 posts)republianmushroom
(13,767 posts)willamette
(123 posts)Sneaky, aren't they?
SpankMe
(2,970 posts)Anything that uses electric power of any kind - batteries, plug-in devices - should not be purchased or used if it was made in China. I know this is not workable. But, we have to try.
EndlessWire
(6,573 posts)jmowreader
(50,569 posts)This is the thing: the Chinese government already knows whats on the ships leaving their harbors, and which ports the freight is going to. It is very possible this is on there for condition monitoring - if the crane has a failing part on it the crane calls home so they know to send a new one. You see this on airliner engines, which transmit condition data back to the manufacturer via satellite link.
cstanleytech
(26,338 posts)That could be a potental devasting thing if they are able to disrupt our ports in that way.
jmowreader
(50,569 posts)cstanleytech
(26,338 posts)cstanleytech
(26,338 posts)justaprogressive
(2,246 posts)But the companys response was straight-forward.
ZPMC takes the US concerns seriously and believes that these reports can easily mislead the public without sufficient factual review, it said in a filing, referring to the probe by the Homeland Security and Strategic Competition committees.
The cranes provided by ZPMC do not pose a cybersecurity risk to any ports, it said.
A House of Representatives security panels, which is scrutinising ZPMCs installation of Swiss engineering group ABBs equipment onto US-bound ship-to-shore cranes, invited ABB executives to public hearings in January to clarify its relationship with ZPMC, which they said raised significant concerns.
ABB has said it sold its control and electrification equipment to many crane manufacturers, including Chinese companies, which in turn sold cranes directly to US ports.
[link:https://www.asiafinancial.com/cranes-at-us-ports-pose-no-security-risk-shanghai-zhenhua|
More on the practice of remote service:
ZPMC port cranes operating entirely by remote control can be found at several of the worlds biggest container terminals, including Jebel Ali, Singapore, Rotterdam and, unsurprisingly, Shanghai.
However, Mark Green, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, accused China of systematically burrowing into US infrastructure.
But Mao Ning, spokesperson for Chinas foreign ministry, said: The accusation that China-made cranes pose security risks is completely unfounded. We firmly oppose the US abusing state power to go after Chinese products and companies. Weaponising economic and trade issues will exacerbate security risks in global industrial and supply chains and inevitably backfire.
[link:https://theloadstar.com/us-cyber-experts-probe-suspect-modems-on-china-made-cranes/|