Compliance Management, Government Regulations

New Chinese cybersecurity policies require U.S. companies to hand over source code

New Chinese regulations will require companies who sell computer equipment to the country's banks to begin including secret source code with the purchases. The firms will also have to comply with audits and build backdoors into their hardware and software.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that foreign technology companies recently received the 22-page rule document and wrote a letter in objection. 

After viewing the document, 18 U.S. groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, penned a letter to a Communist Party committee on cybersecurity, objecting to the policies and demanding “urgent discussion” surrounding the “growing trend” toward the use of technology products and services developed and controlled by Chinese companies.

The letter also urged the Chinese government to postpone implementation of the policies.

The document copies precede a flurry of expected Chinese policies surrounding cybersecurity in critical industries.

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