How Huawei is engaging in the UAE’s cybersecurity efforts

Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant, is a key provider of telecoms and cloud infrastructure throughout the world. Huawei has also long been suspected of allowing the Chinese government to use its equipment to spy on foreign governments and companies, which Huawei has always denied. As a result, it faces bans and sanctions in much of the West, to the point that Huawei’s earnings plummeted in 2021, forcing a change in business strategy that seeks new markets where such fears are harder to realise and a doubling-down in markets like the Middle East and Southeast Asia that have not shared the concerns over potential spying.

In much of the world, Huawei has tried to combat the spying allegations, and it has engaged in various cybersecurity initiatives to counteract the allegations. In the Middle East, Huawei has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Arab Emirates to support the UAE’s Cybersecurity Council. Aloysius Cheang, CSO at Huawei UAE, spoke to CIO Middle East about these efforts.

CIO Middle East: What practices can the telecoms sector adopt to build trust and transparency in enhancing security?

Huawei

Cheang: To build trust and transparency, we need to develop an open and collaborative ecosystem. Cybersecurity is not the responsibility of any single individual or company or nation but a shared responsibility that requires a team effort to come together to address it. As such, Mohamed al-Kuwaiti, the head of cybersecurity for the UAE government, has called for public-private partnerships to jointly help build the UAE into a globally trusted digital hub. And Huawei is the first to respond to this call.