Snowden Docs: NSA Targeted Chinese Tech Giant

US intelligence agencies hacked into the email servers of Chinese tech giant Huawei five years ago, around the time concerns were growing in Washington that the telecommunications equipment manufacturer was a threat to US national security, two newspapers reported yesterday. The NSA began targeting Huawei in early 2009 and quickly succeeded in gaining access to the company's client lists and email archive, Der Spiegel reported, citing secret US intelligence documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The New York Times also published a report about the documents.

A Huawei official objected to activities that threaten network security, saying the articles reaffirm "the need for all companies to be vigilant at all times." The operation, which Der Spiegel claims was coordinated with the CIA, FBI, and White House officials, looked at Huawei president's emails and netted source codes for Huawei products. One aim was to exploit the fact that Huawei equipment is widely used to route voice and data traffic around the world, according to the report. But the NSA was also concerned that the Chinese government itself might use Huawei's presence in foreign networks for espionage purposes. Click for more on the story. (More NSA stories.)