Chinese electric vehicles filmed military personnel and access codes during exercises in Norway
Kyiv • UNN
Deepal vehicles rented for the exercises stored footage of military personnel, routes, and access codes to facilities. The recordings were discovered after reviewing the\r\nsystem.
Chinese electric vehicles recorded military activities and access codes to secure facilities during military exercises in Norway. The cars were rented for the needs of the Norwegian army, and the stored footage was discovered by the military personnel themselves. Dagens Næringsliv reports, UNN writes.
Details
At least two of the vehicles were Deepal models, owned by the Chinese conglomerate Changan.
Five thousand territorial defense troops took part in the Øvelse Hovedstad exercise. One of their tasks was to guard Gardermoen Airport in wartime conditions. The recordings were discovered by servicemen who were browsing the onboard system’s menu "out of boredom." Exercise participant Lieutenant Fredrik Blank said:
You can see who gets into the car and who gets out, where we are going, whom we pick up, and how much time we spend at each location
According to Blank, the footage also captured codes that in some cases are entered near gates together with the use of key cards. Due to a shortage of transport, the unit used these vehicles until the end of the exercise, including on the premises of military facilities. The servicemen deleted the recordings only after the exercise and only in those vehicles where it was possible to do so. They reported the discovery to the command in a separate report.
The Norwegian Armed Forces did not answer DN’s questions, but the agency’s press secretary, Karoline Lisne, wrote that it is currently inappropriate to ban vehicles from particular countries on military premises. According to her, this would provide a "limited security gain" while causing significant practical inconvenience.
The vehicles were provided by First Rent A Car Norway, the main supplier under its contract with the army. According to the NTB news agency, the company’s ownership chain leads to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. The company said it complies with Norwegian and European law.
In February, Poland banned Chinese-made vehicles from entering guarded military facilities over concerns that their cameras and sensors could collect classified data, the American think tank FDD reported. Military personnel were also prohibited from connecting official phones to the multimedia systems of such vehicles.