US solar highway infrastructure may contain hidden malicious tech, officials warn
- Undocumented cellular radios have been found in power inverters and battery systems used in American road infrastructure
- Concerns include remote falsification, data theft and sabotage
- Many affected devices have been manufactured in China, reviving tensions on cybersecurity and foreign technologies, China denying any reprehensible act
Certain power inverters and battery management systems (BMS), found in road infrastructure equipment placed along the American roads, contained “undocumented cellular radios”.
This is in accordance with a new security advice distributed by the Federal Highway Administration of the US Transport Ministry last month, Reuters reported.
At this stage, it seems that no one knows with certainty that has placed the radios or what is their objective, but there are speculations according to which the equipment could be used to remote the equipment remotely, steal data or sabotage road infrastructure.
Comms hidden in highway technology
The equipment containing these supply inverters and BMS includes panels, traffic cameras, weather stations, solar visitors and warehouses and electric vehicle magazines.
The Federal Highway Administration advised local authorities to store all the inverters installed on American motorways and to scan them with spectrum analysis technology to see if they contained unexpected communications. If they find something, they should deactivate and remove the radios and ensure that their networks are properly segmented.
Although the question remains that has placed the radios, many inverted inverters were made in China. The China Embassy in Washington told Reuters in a statement that he opposed “the distortion and smear of China’s achievements in the field of energy infrastructure”.
This is not the first time that China in the epicenter of a history of cyber-spying, because a story similar to it has been published on Reuters in May. In addition, during Donald Trump’s first term as American president, he prohibited Huawei from building his 5G infrastructure, fearing that Chinese society would be constrained by his government to install deadlines and allow the Chinese government to listen to American communications. Other companies, such as ZTE, were also put on black list at the time.
China has always denied all accusations, offering to open its source code and allow European surveillance during installation.
Via Reuters
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