The UK is now investigating the use of Chinese 3D printers by its military.
A report in the Daily Mail explained:
“The Defence Secretary has ordered an investigation into the British Army’s use of Chinese 3D printers to build weapons.
It comes after it was revealed last year that the armed forces had used portable printers, which were manufactured by Shenzhen-based Bambu Labs, during a military exercise in Kenya.”
This echoes concerns expressed by US authorities, who have been slowly putting up roadblocks for Bambu Lab in that country.
What’s behind all this? I think there are two reasons, and some gross misunderstandings.
One reason is security: Bambu Lab equipment by default includes a connection to their cloud network, which allows the equipment to be remotely operated and monitored. The servers for their cloud service are at least partially located in China, where, in theory, the Chinese government could require Bambu Lab to hand over any content traveling through their cloud. That data might include GCODE or 3D model files, thereby potentially exposing secret designs to China.
That’s entirely possible, technically. However, it is almost certainly not the case. Bambu Lab provides a LAN-only mode, where the equipment runs only locally, and does not send any data anywhere else. Any sensible military using the equipment would obviously use this mode when setting up the equipment.
My suspicion is that the media and “security experts” do not understand this at all. Again, from the Daily Mail:
“Security experts were quick to raise concerns over the use of the Chinese-manufactured 3D printers because, under China’s National Intelligence Law, companies can be compelled to share data with the government.”
The second reason is more subtle: the US is greatly concerned about the rise of China’s economic power, which potentially could exceed that of the US within a few years. The US continually creates barriers for Chinese business activity, citing security concerns, but at the same time there are economic concerns.
Some of that sentiment carries over into other countries, and we might be seeing a bit of that in this situation, too.
It’s likely a big, media-plastered investigation will take place in the UK, and in the end they will find that no security breaches occurred and that proper precautions were taken.
If they were not, then that’s on the 3D print team from the UK military.
Via Daily Mail
