Huawei has had a rough time this year after being targeted by the US during the trade war with China, it not only has been excluded from the Android program but also denied from making businesses with U.S. chip manufacturers, and just recently, the company was suspended from the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, also called “First” for short.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the Chinese tech giant has been denied its participation in this forum, which goal is to serve as a first responder to cyber-attacks and security breaches, providing information and advice on how to counter and prevent this type of situations.
The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams is composed of several multinational companies and cybersecurity organizations, among which the National Cyber Security Centre of the UK is listed.
What does this mean for Huawei?
Obviously, nothing good, it means that the company has no longer access to the information provided by this entity, which could jeopardize its capacity to patch and fix security holes in its own devices, like for instance, its smartphones, which heavily depend on monthly firmware updates to keep its security up to date.
This also implies that the company has lost access to a platform for quickly sharing information on malware.
It isn’t clear yet the reason behind this decision, all we know so far is that the legal team behind the forum advised for the suspension of Huawei in light of the recent changes concerning U.S export rules.
It even seems that the members aren’t sure on why it has come to this, all they know is that the attorneys of the group determined that some of the info shared within its group could fit the U.S. definition, regarding the participation of Huawei that is.
However, not all hope is lost for Huawei, since according to a statement by a spokesman for First, the suspension is a temporary measure and the board is in the talks with U.S officials to restore Huawei’s participation in the forum.
A spokesman for First said that “after extensive consultation and review, we regret ending up in a position where we had to suspend Huawei’s membership.”
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