California-based software firm, Business Efficiency Solutions (BES) has slammed the Chinese tech giant, Huawei with a lawsuit in California federal court for supposedly stealing sensitive information following their work collectively on a project for the Pakistani government, and therefore, spying in Pakistan.
Furthermore, on Wednesday the US company also accused Huawei of employing its technology to build a “backdoor” that enabled it to obtain sensitive data “critical to Pakistan’s nationwide security.” Huawei did not immediately reply to a request for comment; neither did BES nor its attorneys Paul Tripodi and David Vondle of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
$150 Million Contract to Develop Softwares for Pakistani Law Enforcements
As per the filed complaint, Huawei went into a contract with BES in 2016 for its $150 million contract to develop software for a Pakistani government program providing advanced technology for law enforcement and police in Lahore. BES stated that it created software for the project that gathers data from government bureaus, regulates access to buildings, controls social media, and operates drones, with other things.
Read more: Pakistan calls on United Nations to investigate India’s use of Pegasus spyware
The eight-software systems BES generated for the project covered proprietary code, designs, plans, and other sensitive information that are “valuable trade secrets at the essence of BES’s business,” the company objected.
The executives of Huawei allegedly directed BES to send this data to the company in China for testing purposes, and BES said it agreed to the request but annulled its authorization to use the technology after Huawei withdrew its access to the testing laboratory.
The complaint further stated that Huawei has yet to return any of the classified software configuration tools or uninstall the software, as BES told it had agreed to.
Huawei Directly Spying in Pakistan Using these Softwares
BES stated that Huawei later demanded it install its data-aggregation software – employed by Pakistani government enforcements to gather and analyze “sensitive information from different origins and government bureaus” – in its Chinese lab, “this time not merely for testing purposes but with full access to data at the Lahore Safe City project.” BES said it agreed, under the intimidation of termination and withheld payments, after Huawei declared it had approval from the Pakistani government.
BES also told that Huawei never paid for some of its software and that Huawei is abusing its business secrets in similar “Safe City” projects in Pakistan and other countries around the world.
Source: Reuters
Image Source: Gizmochina
