Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro has declared that American intelligence agencies are unable to hack Huawei smartphones. During a press conference on Monday, Maduro displayed a Huawei device gifted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling it “the best phone in the world.”
“The Americans can’t hack it, neither their spy planes, nor their satellites,” Maduro said while holding what appeared to be a Mate X6, Huawei’s foldable phone launched in 2024.
Security experts, however, dispute such claims. A US-based vulnerability researcher told TechCrunch that Huawei devices could actually be more susceptible because the company develops both its hardware and HarmonyOS software. “There’s bound to be many more mistakes in their brand-new code than in iOS and Android at this time,” said the researcher, who requested anonymity.
Like all operating systems, HarmonyOS requires constant updates to address vulnerabilities. Huawei provides monthly security patches for select models, though it warns that some carriers may only roll out quarterly updates. In August, the company patched 60 bugs in HarmonyOS, including 13 rated as highly severe. Huawei also maintains support pages for customers who may experience malware infections.
Huawei did not issue a statement in response to the latest claims.
The US has a long history of targeting Huawei systems. Documents leaked by Edward Snowden in 2014 revealed that the NSA had infiltrated Huawei’s servers in China and gained deep access into its headquarters in Shenzhen, allowing US spies to intercept communications and study the company’s products. According to the leaked files, “many of our targets communicate over Huawei-produced products,” which the NSA sought to exploit to gain access to global networks of interest.
Although those operations were exposed over a decade ago, experts believe US cyber agencies, including the NSA and Cyber Command, continue to hunt for vulnerabilities in Huawei devices. Earlier this year, Beijing accused the NSA of attacking Chinese critical infrastructure, highlighting the ongoing cyber tensions between the two nations.
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