GOVERNMENTS and other users of Chinese-made security cameras are checking to see which brand is installed after concerns were raised about two manufacturers with alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party.
Victorian Liberal Senator James Paterson, whose opposition roles cover cyber security and foreign interference, has blown the whistle on two brands - Hikvision and Dahua - which he says are "riddled with CCP spyware".
Senator Paterson said today that after the Department of Home Affairs was unable to say how much Hikvision or Dahua equipment it was using, he conducted his own audit of federal agencies, which after six months of investigation revealed at least 913 devices across 254 sites.
After Senator Paterson went public with his information, Defence Minister Richard Marles reportedly asked Defence to remove any such cameras. He said the situation was a "significant" one that "predates our time in office".
The data made public by Senator Paterson does not name the sites in question.
When the Newcastle Herald checked the various state and federal offices dotted around the CBD yesterday, it was evident that a range of brands were in use, including the US company Honywell and South Korea's Samsung. Also present was Aviglon, made by Motorola.
Some cameras were unbranded but at least one government office had a Chinese camera, branded with the UNW logo of Uniview, originally part of Hewlett-Packard before being bought from Bain Capital by China Transinfo in 2018.
Hunter firm AVE Technologies employs more than 40 people at Mayfield East and Muswellbrook installing security cameras and related technologies and its founder, Chris Elkin, told the Herald today that the risk from Hikvision and Dahua had been "well known in the industry for some time".
Mr Elkin said all such cameras allowed remote connection but it was believed the suspect brands had an undisclosed "back door" that could also be used as a hacking access point.
Senator Paterson said the United States and the United Kingdom both banned Hikvision and Dahua from all government buildings in November last year and he urged Australia to follow suit.
"We urgently need a plan from the Albanese government to rip every one of these devices out of Australian government premises," Senator Paterson said.
The latest cyber-scare follows the controversy of the Chinese "weather" balloon shot down by the US military after it was tracked floating over US airspace.
Although China and Russia are often accused of cyber-crimes, intelligence agencies from the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - the so-called Five Eyes - are said to engage in similar covert activity.
At a doorstop interview today, Senator Paterson said he had two concerns.
"One is a security concern," Senator Paterson said.
"We have no way of knowing whether images, audio or other data collected by these devices are being sent back to China and handed over to Chinese intelligence agencies.
"But I also have a moral concern. These companies have been implicated in what the United Nations has called crimes against humanity, what others call genocide against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang.
"And I don't think any Australian taxpayer dollars should be going to companies involved in these things."
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