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Canada Orders Chinese CCTV Biz Hikvision To Quit The Country

posted by jelizondo on Saturday July 05, @07:00AM   

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly announced the order on Friday, when she said a national security review concluded the company’s ongoing operations “would be injurious to Canada’s national security.”

Canada’s government will stop using any Hikvision products it finds and has banned government agencies from buying any more Hikvision kit.

Hikvision has responded by criticizing the Minister’s “unfounded allegations of national security concerns.”

“Instead of evaluating our technology on its cybersecurity merits, the decision appears to be driven by the parent company’s country of origin, reflecting broader geopolitical tensions and an unjustified bias against Chinese companies,” the company stated.

According to Hikvision Canada: "Hikvision Canada Inc. is a full service, end-to-end security solutions provider, employing a number of experienced, professionals situated across the country. Offices which include state of the art customer experience showrooms are located in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. In addition, Hikvision Canada has a full Distribution Warehouse facility in Vancouver."

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Original Submission

• Re:SureRe:Sure (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 05, @01:44PM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 05, @01:44PM (#1409381)

  Already banned in USA in 2022, according to this security-system supplier:
      https://www.backstreet-surveillance.com/hikvision-cctv-supplier [backstreet-surveillance.com]

  [...] This means all those Hikvision systems installed across this country are now frozen in time. Maintenance of the systems is the only option, well that and replacing the system. The risk with maintaining the system is guessing how long Hikvision can make a profit supporting the current systems. Once it is not profitable to support current systems, Hikvision will abandon the US customers. What do they have to loose? Their reputation is already toast in the US market.

  There is one more concern consumers should consider, the reason Hikvision was banned - NDAA Law. Hidden backdoors were found in the equipment, a serious security breach intentionally built-in to a foreign manufactured product that is being sold into the USA security market. If this does not concern you, you do not understand the risks.

  Advanced AI (Artificial Intelligence) can literally track a library of faces and identify a person from one security camera location to another, even if the the camera is not on the same system or in the same state. Hikvision has sold millions of these compromised cameras into the US market. A network of compromised cameras matched with advanced AI can track the movement of a person from the coffee shop, to a hotel, to work, to home. The potential is a national surveillance system build by a foreign government and installed by an unknowing US consumer. The possibility of tracking key political and military VIPs by a foreign government who has access to the compromised equipment is real, the technology is proven and reliable.

  Is this just scare marketing by this security dealer (who would love to sell you another system), or something approaching reality? I have no way to know, but maybe someone here does?

  Parent

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• Re:Sure(Score: 4, Interesting) by hopdevil on Saturday July 05, @05:32PM

  by hopdevil (3356) on Saturday July 05, @05:32PM (#1409397) Journal

  Probably reality. I don't know these particular cameras, but the narrative rhymes with other devices I have run across and have first hand experience with. Chinese equipment often comes with extra "features".

  Parent