Huawei Surveillance Concerns: Truth and Lies in Conflict, the Real Israeli Surveillance Master You Don't Know About

The controversy over whether Huawei phones (Hawaii) from mainland China have surveillance backdoors has existed for a long time. Although the governments of many countries (led by the United States) and the media frequently accuse Huawei devices of security risks, to date no entity has been able to produce conclusive evidence to prove these accusations.

These accusations mainly focus on the following aspects:

1. National security threat: Many countries worry that Huawei devices may be used for espionage, especially since Huawei occupies a leading position in 5G network construction, making this concern particularly prominent.
2. Data privacy: Huawei is accused of possibly transmitting user data back to the mainland Chinese government, which has raised concerns about personal privacy.
3. Technological dependence: Some countries worry that over-reliance on Huawei’s technology will put them at a disadvantage in future technological competition.

However, to date no entity has been able to produce conclusive evidence to prove these accusations, and even the U.S. national security department responsible for technology surveillance personally testified at a hearing that “no wrongdoing was found.” This makes one wonder whether the motives behind it are purely out of technical security considerations, or whether there are other political and economic interests at play.

At the same time, the true surveillance master—the Pegasus software developed by the Israeli company NSO Group—seems to have become a taboo topic in the international community.

Pegasus Software: The Ultimate Weapon of Surveillance

The Pegasus software developed by the Israeli company NSO Group can be called the ultimate weapon in the current surveillance world. It can not only hack into all phones, but even Apple’s iPhone, which claims to be the most secure closed system, cannot escape. After installation, Pegasus can run arbitrary code, obtain contact data, call records, messages, photos, web browsing history, settings, and even collect information from various communication apps, including but not limited to iMessage, Gmail, Viber, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

Pegasus’s technical characteristics are astonishing. It is a Trojan horse software that can be covertly installed on iOS and Android devices.

Pegasus can exploit zero-click exploits, meaning it can be installed remotely even if the user does not click any link or download any file. These exploits take advantage of unpatched vulnerabilities in the operating system, allowing Pegasus to implant itself into the target device without being detected.

Once installed, Pegasus can:

• Read text messages and emails
• Track call records
• Collect passwords
• Track location
• Access the device’s microphone and camera
• Obtain data from apps

Pegasus is a piece of software with a very high level of confidentiality, and it cannot be sold to just anyone at will; selling it to foreign governments also requires approval from the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

According to a report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the NSO Group once sold Pegasus to the United Arab Emirates and other Persian Gulf Arab countries for hundreds of millions of dollars. Even countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Thailand, Panama, India, Mexico, multiple Eastern European countries, and Morocco obtained this software through unknown channels. What’s more, some journalists died of unknown causes after being surveilled.

One of the most famous cases is Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He was brutally murdered in October 2018 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Investigations showed that the phone of Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, was successfully infected by Pegasus software within four days after Khashoggi’s murder. In addition, the phone of Mexican journalist Cecilio Pineda Birto was also found to be infected with Pegasus in the weeks before he was killed.

Pegasus’s surveillance targets are not limited to ordinary people; even French President Emmanuel Macron, the Spanish Prime Minister, the Spanish Defense Minister, and the surviving family of Jamal Khashoggi all became its surveillance targets. The United States originally intended to introduce Pegasus, but according to officially released information, the U.S. government felt the price was too high after a trial and ultimately chose to refuse.

However, although the United States refused to buy it, it also obtained the complete program under the pretext of testing, operating it in a laboratory somewhere on U.S. soil. This makes one wonder whether, given the United States’ technological strength, it has the ability to crack and use reverse engineering to replicate similar software—a rather intriguing question.

In-Depth Discussion: The Reasons and Conflicts of Interest Behind the U.S. Blocking Huawei

The U.S. government’s view of Huawei is very clear: it believes Huawei has close ties with the Chinese government and the People’s Liberation Army, and that its devices may be used for espionage.

Therefore, the U.S. government not only placed Huawei on the Entity List, prohibiting U.S. companies from providing technology and products to it, but also strongly persuaded allies not to use Huawei equipment when building 5G networks. These measures have severely impacted Huawei’s business, especially in high-end technology and international markets.

However, there are also obvious conflicts of interest behind these actions. First, the United States occupies a dominant position in the global technology market, and Huawei’s rise poses a direct threat to American tech giants. Huawei’s leading position in 5G technology puts pressure on the United States, because this involves not only technological competition but also national security and economic interests.

Second, the U.S. crackdown on Huawei is also related to its global strategy. The United States hopes to curb China’s development in the high-tech field by restricting Huawei, thereby maintaining its own technological advantage. This approach is not only out of security considerations, but also to maintain the United States’ leadership position in the global technology market.

The Phenomenon of Double Standards

However, the governments and media of the Western world keep telling us that Huawei phones have surveillance concerns, so their commercial channels must be blocked worldwide. Even though the relevant technical departments within the U.S. government have publicly stated that they cannot find any evidence.

This behavior of saying one thing and doing another makes one wonder about the motives behind it. The U.S. government, on the one hand, loudly accuses Huawei, while on the other hand, turns a blind eye to the existence of Pegasus, even giving up only after a trial due to price issues. This double-standard approach undoubtedly makes one doubt its true motives.