Experts Say Chinese Safes Pose Risks to US National Security
March 14, 2024 – Published on BankInfoSecurity
A senior U.S. senator is raising concerns that Beijing may be able to gain unauthorized access to commercial electronic safes made in China and used by the American public.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent a letter Wednesday to the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center “about the counterintelligence risks posed by commercial safe locks that do not meet U.S. government security standards.”
“Many commercially available safes include electronic locks that can also be unlocked using special codes set by and known only to the manufacturer,” the letter says. It also says that the existence of manufacturer reset codes is not “prominently advertised to consumers.”
“These backdoor codes can be exploited by foreign adversaries to steal sensitive information that U.S. businesses store in safes, such as trade secrets and other intellectual property,” the senator warned.
“Folks may not be aware that it’s common for locks on safes to include built-in backdoor codes,” said Christopher Warner, senior security consultant for the cybersecurity firm GuidePoint Security.
Warner said organizations should be testing all commercial safes in use for potential backdoor access and “performing an assessment on all safes and updating the policies, standards and procedures for any future safes.”
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