British officials are criticizing Chinese tech giant Huawei for failing to address security issues in its technology.
In a report released Thursday, a government-led oversight board wrote that Huawei had made "no material progress" in fixing previously discovered security flaws.
The board also said it didn't have confidence that the company will successfully implement measures it first proposed in 2012 to address "underlying defects." It pointed out these vulnerabilities could be easily exploited if an attacker was aware of them.
The U.S. has long believed Huawei devices pose a national security threat, and it's pressured its allies to move away from working with the company.
But U.K. cybersecurity officials pushed back against a ban of Huawei equipment earlier this year, arguing any risk it posed could be mitigated.
Thursday's report doesn't change officials' decision regarding a ban. But the BBC pointed out it comes ahead of the U.K. government deciding if Huawei equipment should be used to build 5G networks in the country.
A Huawei spokesperson said the company takes the concerns brought up in the U.K. report "very seriously" and that it provides "vital input for the ongoing transformation of our software engineering capabilities."
