Lenovo PC boss status challenged

Recently, a number of British media cited a just-disclosed internal ban on the 29th that the intelligence and defense agencies of the five countries of the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada have disabled Lenovo computers at the confidential level for several years, because "a large number of experiments have proven that Lenovo's computer has a 'back door' hardware vulnerability and is easily manipulated by intruders. 'There are even foreign media screaming: 'Don't worry about China, the city has a new monster. Its name is Lenovo.' Lenovo shares fell 1.12%. This has cast a dark shadow on the bright prospects of this world's largest PC supplier.

Regarding this remark, Lenovo responded that it had never heard of this ban. There are also other foreign media that require the media to show evidence, otherwise it is Lenovo's embarrassment.

A stone sparks a thousand waves

In an article entitled “Intelligent Institutions Disable Lenovo Personal Computers Based on Security Concerns,” Australian Financial Review stated that sources in the UK’s and Australia’s multiple intelligence and defense sectors disclosed to the newspaper that the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada comprise The "Five Eyes" intelligence coalition issued a written ban roughly in the mid-2000s, prohibiting the "secret" and "top secret" levels of the intelligence and defense agencies of their respective countries from using Lenovo computers because of concerns about malicious hardware loopholes in Lenovo's computers. It is vulnerable to remote control by intruders.

The report said that the concerns of the five-nation intelligence agencies are based on experimental evidence. The British intelligence department’s subordinate laboratory had conducted several experiments on Lenovo computers several years ago and found that the circuit system of Lenovo’s computers was maliciously modified. There were “backdoor” hardware loopholes and firmware loopholes, and these “backdoor” loopholes often disguised as tiny The design or manufacturing defects, which can remain lurking until activated by remote activation, are difficult for most users and organizations to detect. Only very specialized laboratories can detect these vulnerabilities through extensive testing.

In response, the British "Daily Telegraph" responded that "if the report is true, the ban on Lenovo computers should take effect before and after 2005, that is, before and after the Lenovo acquisition of IBM personal computer business." British "Information Security Magazine" also said that "If there is such evidence, why not announce it?" Some people in the industry believe that this incident is not a security incident but a political economic event. Some netizens also quipped, "Do not forget, Lenovo's computer is installed on the Windows system." However, Lenovo’s response was too low-key. Whether it was on the official website or on the official Weibo, they did not see the words of Lenovo’s response. The author believes that Lenovo should actively face it, openly accept it, and blindly criticize it. Can not solve the problem, Lenovo should deal with the so-called "back door" hardware loopholes to test, speak with facts, this is a good way to solve the problem.

PC status or will change hands

After 20 years of struggle, Lenovo finally replaced HP as the world’s largest notebook computer supplier in the second quarter of this year. IDC statistics show that Lenovo’s market share in the second quarter was 16.7%, HP was 16.4%, and Gartner’s statistics was 16.7%. With 16.3%. However, today’s news may make it even worse for Lenovo’s associations in the “ban”, but according to Taiwanese supply chain manufacturers, HP notebook shipments are expected to increase by 15-20% in the current quarter, and Lenovo may continue to It fell by 7-9%, so HP will hopefully regain the throne of the first shipment and regain its former glory.

According to sources, HP's notebook shipment growth in the third quarter was mainly due to HP's acquisition of large-scale government procurement projects. Hewlett-Packard has already won the bid for the government procurement in northern India. The government purchases 1.5 million laptops for educational purposes and may win the bid for another 2 million laptops. Today, Lenovo fell 1.12% after it was trapped in the “ban”, which casts a dark shadow on the bright prospects of the world’s No. 1 PC supplier. Hewlett-Packard currently has three laptop ODM partners in Taiwan, namely Quanta Computer, Wistron and Inventec. Among them, Quanta Computer and Wistron Technology are mainly responsible for the production of consumer laptops. Inventec is responsible for the production of commercial computers. laptop. Strength can not be ignored.

After the “ban on the door” storm, Lenovo will be affected, so that Hewlett-Packard took advantage of the enemy will be an army? If the first throne is not yet hot and has to hand it over, it will be a big blow to Lenovo.

Is Lenovo "back door"?

In spite of the prism door, the US government that had already made “the thief shouted and robbed the thief” had lost face on Huawei's label of “threat to national security”. It is an indisputable fact that developed countries have “natural fears” for products from Chinese companies in the Internet and communications industries.

From Huawei's ZTE, it fell into the “spy door” to the later “patent gate” and then to Lenovo’s “injunction gate”. In this regard, the observer Cavalier said that Lenovo’s “invalidation gate” is similar to Huawei ZTE’s alleged criticism. All of them are a contradiction to China’s manufacturing. The security issue coincides with the time of the prism and is easy to catch the eye.

Regarding why the ban was imposed on Chinese computer products, some analysts believe that this is the attitude of Western trade protection against China, and the German professional website “winfuture” said on July 30th that “the introduction of more bans is still out of the Western The fear of Chinese companies, fears that Lenovo and other companies have intelligence agencies or military backgrounds, and what's more important behind this is the fear of China's rise. Even in the West, not everyone agrees with this fear."

Goodman, an information security scholar at the University of London, also told the media that it is not surprising that the British intelligence agency refused to use Lenovo computers. Because in the field of global security, China and the West still lack sufficient sincerity for cooperation in network security. This is largely based on political ideological factors.

Goodman believes that while China may not be an enemy to every European country’s security sector, it is certainly not a friend. From Huawei to Lenovo, the similar phenomenon reflects the same reality: Western intelligence agencies still hold on China's penetration in the global market economy. In fact, Lenovo was not the first time that Western countries had questioned the safety of equipment. In 2006, the US State Department banned the purchase of Lenovo computers on the basis of security issues on the basis of security issues, and also tried to block Lenovo from acquiring IBM's PC sector on the ground of threatening national security. .

According to industry insiders, Western governments like to artificially create backdoor loopholes on their own export equipment. This is one of the reasons they doubt Chinese equipment.