For some days the main issue among the cyber security community is the executive order of Donald Trump’s administration that prohibits U.S. companies from buying technology developed abroad, mainly China.
One of the first consequences was Google’s decision to stop supporting Huawei devices, the second-largest smartphone vendor in the world, so millions of these equipments will no longer receive software updates. On a provisional basis, Huawei has until August to continue operating on a regular basis in the U.S., although the company already has a backup plan.
According to cyber security specialists, Richard Yu, Chinese company manager, mentioned a couple of months ago, when the trade war between China and the U.S. began, that Huawei had developed a backup operating system ready to be implemented in case the company could not use Android anymore for any reason.
This operating system is designed to be run on smartphones, computer equipment, smart TVs and even in vehicles with Internet connection. In addition, the company claims that it will completely work for Android applications, as well as their web versions, not to mention that an Android application recompiled for this new operating system could work up to 50% faster, experts affirm.
Cyber security experts have spent about three years speculating on Huawei’s plans to develop an alternative operating system and, even now, there is really little knowledge about this project. At this very moment, experts believe that the deployment of this system could begin this year, as the time window that the U.S. government gave the company is fulfilled, although this is only speculation.
Experts from the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) mention that the company manager’s statements were made after a meeting with Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei, and other managers. Zhengfei has focused his recent efforts on trying to calm a somewhat convulsed environment that has even escalated to nationalist stances against American companies in China and vice versa.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
