Recently, researchers examined 25,000 leaked Huawei resumes and discovered concerning associations with Chinese military and intelligence agencies.

The analysis indicates that the ties between Huawei and the Chinese government may be more significant than previously thought.

Christopher Balding from Fulbright University Vietnam conducted the study on the leaked resumes, drawing data from a pool of over 590 million Chinese resumes. In April, Chinese companies mistakenly exposed over 590 million resumes through unprotected MongoDB databases and ElasticSearch servers. This exposure led to the investigation that uncovered the connections between Huawei and military and intelligence entities.

By searching for specific terms like “People’s Liberation Army,” the study identified around 100 individuals with backgrounds in national security from the 25,000 Huawei resumes. Balding shared the study findings online after making necessary edits to safeguard the identities of the individuals mentioned. For instance, a case involved an R&D engineer simultaneously working for Huawei and the Ministry of State Security. According to Balding, this person was involved in activities like embedding information capture technology on Huawei products and integrating lawful interception capabilities into Huawei equipment, impacting both domestic and international projects of the company.

It is important to recognize that Balding’s investigation is not comprehensive. However, he stated that due to the urgency of policymaking regarding Huawei, a more thorough examination wasn’t undertaken. In response to the study, a Huawei spokeswoman emphasized the company’s awareness of cybersecurity concerns and welcomed factual reporting on investigations into their transparency. The spokeswoman expressed hope for future research to rely less on speculation and conjecture in drawing conclusions, discouraging the use of terms like “believes” and “infers.”