Romania spied on by China right in the Deveselu military base. What method does it use? Dahua and Hikvision companies dominate the markets of Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Bulgaria, and Georgia.
Central and Eastern European countries have purchased millions of Chinese-made surveillance cameras over the past five years, despite the devices’ security vulnerabilities and unscrupulous practices by data producers and ties to the Chinese state, an RFE survey shows. RL in nine countries.
Romania spied on by China right in the Deveselu military base. What method does it use?
The RFE/RL report reveals the growing use of Chinese-made cameras in countries that are either EU and NATO members or aspiring to join, and where budget-strapped governments are increasingly turning to Chinese companies at affordable prices and subsidized by the state.
Despite increasing scrutiny in Western capitals over over-reliance on Chinese technology in critical infrastructure, Dahua and Hikvision surveillance cameras are used even in sensitive places, including military bases in Romania and special police units in Hungary, which experts say they are vulnerable to hackers and foreign adversaries.
There is no central database in Romania, but industry surveys and public procurement portals show that the use of surveillance cameras made in China is expanding. Some have even been installed on sensitive security sites.
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According to a 2021 global surveillance industry report, there were 189,452 active Dahua and Hikvision cameras in Romania, the eighth largest in the world.
A recent RFE/RL investigation also found that surveillance equipment made by Hikvision and Dahua is used in at least 28 military units in the country.
The equipment is also used by hundreds of other public institutions involved in national security.
RFE/RL also found that Hikvision cameras were being used at a military base in Deveselu, which hosts NATO’s Aegis Ashore ground-based missile defense system.
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Romanian officials have defended the use of Chinese-made cameras, saying they fall within the parameters of government procurement for new equipment and that all cameras are kept offline to prevent some of the security risks found in Dahua and Hikvision technology.
However, experts told RFE/RL that more advanced hackers can gain access, and that there have been recent examples of hacking groups accessing closed-camera systems by hacking a computer’s operating system online, then being able to infiltrate offline networks.
While countries like the United States, Great Britain and Australia have blacklisted the two firms, there is no such ban in Europe.
But amid Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe, which began on May 5 in France, plus a series of Chinese espionage scandals across the continent and an EU crackdown on Chinese business practices, the positioning of the two “popular” companies in Europe marks another potential conflict.
