The Baltic states have investigated Chinese smartphones and advises their citizens to get rid of them as soon as possible. In Lithuania, Chinese brand smartphones are no longer welcome. Worse still, the authorities are asking those who use it to get rid of it as soon as possible. The Lithuanian Defense Ministry has indeed looked into several Chinese aircraft and details its findings in a rather edifying security report. Three phones were analyzed by the Lithuanian National Cyber Security Center: a Huawei P40, a OnePlus 8T, and a Xiaomi Mi 10T. On each of them, many security problems have been identified and data leaks are possible, so that the Deputy Minister of Defense makes the “Recommendation not to buy new Chinese phones and to get rid of those already purchased as quickly as reasonably possible.” “ The case of Xiaomi is the most detailed. According to the report, the brand’s smartphone is rigged with a content censorship system that regularly downloads a list of Chinese characters banned by the Chinese government. It is, for example, information concerning Taiwan, Tibet, or democratic subjects. The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense explains that this system would make it possible to collect users’ personal data. After advising its citizens to stop buying Chinese phones, Lithuania now hopes to pass a bill aimed at outright banning the purchase of one of these devices. Note that the context between Lithuania and China has been frankly tense for months. The opening of the Taiwanese office in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius has ignited the powder in China, which has been campaigning for years to outlaw the use of the term “Taiwan”, considering the small state as a simple province. Lithuania and China recalled their respective ambassadors after the conflict, and relations have not visibly calmed down since.
