New Delhi, Sep 17 — Chinese‑made connected devices from port cranes to buses sold to Western countries pose growing security risks to them if left unchecked through a common methodology to assess risks, a new report has said.
The report from Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) said Chinese ZPMC cranes supplied to American ports contained cellular modems that could bypass firewalls, gather information and disrupt cargo handling.
Similarly, Yutong buses sold to Oslo contained connected battery and power controls that could allow the buses to be rendered inoperable by the manufacturer, the report said.
"Chinese connected vehicles carry cameras, microphones, and location sensors that gather data. Chinese-supplied apps, such as Hikvision’s Hik-Connect, send phone and SIM card identifiers to Chinese servers," the report said.
The publication urged allied countries of the EU to avoid instituting counterproductive sovereignty requirements, and to plan for a shared response that limits exposure by private purchase of Chinese consumer goods.
The think tank also highlighted concerns about Chinese‑supplied apps that transmit phone and SIM identifiers to servers in China and about connected vehicles and cameras that collect cameras, microphones and location data that could be aggregated to reveal sensitive infrastructure and military movements.
An ordinary private purchase by a family of a Chinese-built affordable solar inverter could compound into a structural threat if the manufacturer can change the operation of thousands of these devices and threaten the grid.
The International Energy Agency has warned about blackouts from malicious software updates to inverters and actors with connected capacity could spread disruption across borders before grid operators restore control, the publication said.
The report urged allies to adopt a common methodology, namely Digital Strategic Exposure (DSE), to assess risks across devices, cloud, subcontractors and jurisdictions and to limit “dangerous digital leverage”.
"Under DSE, Europe would gain a legally defensible way of making decisions to exclude Chinese products where risks cannot be contained, without unnecessarily excluding American technology. Partners could compare their reasoning without sharing confidential evidence," it noted.