Huawei hires a CIO from UK government
FILE IT UNDER 'WHY?' PERHAPS, but the Chinese networking firm Huawei has decided to hire an ex-UK government security executive for a very senior security role.
Huawei is likely as secure as any Chinese technology firm, but the UK government is to data security what colanders are for transporting water, which makes its hiring of John Suffolk as global cyber security officer pretty confusing.
Suffolk was at a UK government post where he worked as its CIO for five years. What work he did there we can't say, but we can say that during and around the period in which he was able to use those business cards the UK Government, its departments and its employees lost a lot of USB sticks, laptops and even Ipads through a range of unlocked back doors, in taxis, at pubs, in car parks and so on.
It's probably a good deal at Huawei though, as whatever you think about UK government security, that will have been a very well paid job, and one that adds a lot of impressive bumpf to a CV.
So Suffolk will move to Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, China, and will develop the firm's cyber security assurance strategies once he gets there.
We've got some suggestions for you to start with, John. Try asking Huawei's staff to look after their documents, laptops and USB sticks, and the rest might take care of itself.
Suffolk "brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the area of information and cyber security, given his unique perspective as the CIO of the UK government," said Huawei in a statement released to our sister IT news web site V3.co.uk.
Then, it answered a question that no one had asked, and hadn't actually considered, which was whether Suffolk was hired because he was an 'easy in' to Whitehall.
"Suffolk is not engaged as a lobbyist, his role will be to help build a more comprehensive security system," Huawei explained
Huawei is likely as secure as any Chinese technology firm, but the UK government is to data security what colanders are for transporting water, which makes its hiring of John Suffolk as global cyber security officer pretty confusing.
Suffolk was at a UK government post where he worked as its CIO for five years. What work he did there we can't say, but we can say that during and around the period in which he was able to use those business cards the UK Government, its departments and its employees lost a lot of USB sticks, laptops and even Ipads through a range of unlocked back doors, in taxis, at pubs, in car parks and so on.
It's probably a good deal at Huawei though, as whatever you think about UK government security, that will have been a very well paid job, and one that adds a lot of impressive bumpf to a CV.
So Suffolk will move to Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, China, and will develop the firm's cyber security assurance strategies once he gets there.
We've got some suggestions for you to start with, John. Try asking Huawei's staff to look after their documents, laptops and USB sticks, and the rest might take care of itself.
Suffolk "brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the area of information and cyber security, given his unique perspective as the CIO of the UK government," said Huawei in a statement released to our sister IT news web site V3.co.uk.
Then, it answered a question that no one had asked, and hadn't actually considered, which was whether Suffolk was hired because he was an 'easy in' to Whitehall.
"Suffolk is not engaged as a lobbyist, his role will be to help build a more comprehensive security system," Huawei explained
