As America bans foreign-made Wi-Fi routers on national security grounds, experts reveal why the UK MUST do the same
Donald Trump has banned foreign-made Wi-Fi routers over fears they could pose a spying risk through data farming, and a British security expert has warned the UK should do the same.
Former senior British military intelligence officer Phil Ingram said data collection through technologies such as foreign Wi-Fi routers and phone apps poses a ‘very real threat’ to Britain’s national security from ‘the axis of evil: China, Russia, Iran and North Korea’.
Almost all of the routers sold in millions of homes and offices across the US are at least partially built abroad, and Mr Ingram says foreign intelligence agencies may have a ‘back door’.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘This is a very real fear that is reflected in the concerns of the UK’s National Guard.’
Beyond routers, widely used foreign-made phone apps such as TikTok AliExpress and Timu also collect data and “send it directly back to China” and should be avoided by the public, Mr. Ingram said.
He talked about what kinds of data routers and other technologies could be sent back to hostile foreign intelligence agencies.
‘Many electronic systems are constantly listening to you,’ warned Mr. Ingram, ‘so your smart TV, your smart hub in your home, your smart watch are constantly listening. While listening, this data goes somewhere.’
In terms of Wi-Fi routers, many have the potential to have backdoors, meaning spy agencies could be ‘copying every data coming out of them into their own systems without them knowing anything about it’.
He added: ‘Particularly with Chinese equipment, many of these backdoors are due to poor engineering rather than being deliberately put in by the government, but the government can exploit them.’
The UK should impose a US-like ban on foreign-based Wi-Fi routers and be more conscious of data farming espionage in general, Phil Ingram has said. He was a senior British military intelligence officer for 26 years.
Mr Ingram said your Wi-Fi router could be sending data back to be ‘exploited’ via backdoors by hostile spy agencies without your knowledge.
Britain has moved against this in the past, banning Chinese company Huawei from rolling out 5G, but critics have said defending against such espionage leaves much to be desired.
Sir Keir Starmer has given the green light for a controversial Chinese super embassy to be built in London in January, just above key telecommunications lines running through the city near the Tower of London.
At 20,000 square meters it will be the largest of its kind in Europe, but Security Minister Dan Jarvis said he was ‘satisfied that any risks were managed appropriately’.
Asked whether we should take the same security measures as Trump’s Wi-Fi router ban in the US, Mr Ingram replied: ‘Yes, of course I think we should do the same in the UK.’
He pointed out that the UK is aware of this threat to some extent, as the Ministry of Defense has expressed concerns about Chinese-made electric cars, because ‘an electric vehicle is essentially a mobile data collection device that transmits that data somewhere’.
Connecting your phone to the car can pose a potential tracking risk, and apps on your device, especially TikTok, can also pose a risk.
‘TikTok will collect every piece of data on someone’s device, whether you think it’s encrypted or not. “It collects them and sends them back to TikTok servers,” he said.
He warned that some apps contain spyware that can turn on phone cameras and microphones, allowing enemy agents to watch and listen to you even if you think your phone is turned off.
The former intelligence officer offered advice that anyone can do to protect against this threat.
Mr Ingram said people needed to be more conscious about the data they send, adding: ‘You shouldn’t have apps coming from China that are sending data directly to China – TikTok, AliExpress, Timu.’
While the primary function of these apps is to be a useful video sharing or marketing platform, ‘their secondary use is to collect every bit of data on your phone and send it back to China because the Chinese are hoovering up everything,’ he said.
He said that this data would later be shared with countries such as Russia, Iran and North Korea ‘to be used for their own purposes’.
Donald Trump has made many efforts to defend against such espionage in the past, and Mr. Ingram says this ban on foreign Wi-Fi routers is in line with that policy.
In addition to Huawei, Chinese CCTV companies such as HikVision and Dahua are also banned from use in the pool. Chinese drone maker DJI has also been banned from supplying drones to US government agencies “due to fear of being caught”, Mr Ingram said.
Trump said the Wi-Fi router ban only affects new routers coming into the country. Some foreign routers were allowed to continue their sales after receiving Conditions of Approval from the War Department of Homeland Security.
Some critics have said this push for US-made routers is part of Trump’s effort to ‘Make America Great Again’ and bring manufacturing home.
Professor Anthony Glees, a security expert at the University of Buckingham, said: ‘Although I think he may be keen to encourage US consumers to buy America, put America first, make it great again (but don’t talk about war), I think he is being told by the NSA [National Security Agency] People who are very hot on the subject say there is a very real danger that Chinese routers will contain chips that will allow “machine tampering” techniques to be easily initiated.’
The Daily Mail has contacted TikTok, AliExpress and Timu for comment.
