HUAWEI suspended from global cyber-security forum, so what does this mean?

The US trade ban against Huawei has affected the company in a variety of ways, as its membership status with various interest groups has also come under fire.

Now, the Wall Street Journal (paywall) reports that the company’s membership to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (First) has been suspended.

The forum, established in the 1990s, is described as an “informal first responder” to major hacks and cyber-security incidents. Members can share information regarding hacks and vulnerabilities in order to shore up cyber defenses. The outlet adds that the US Department of Homeland Security and UK’s National Cyber-Security Centre are two high-profile members.

Where does this leave HUAWEI?

HUAWEI won’t have access to information from this group as a result of its membership being suspended. In fact, the Wall Street Journal says this could slow down the manufacturer’s ability to issue patches. HUAWEI is also apparently losing out on an automated platform that shares the latest details regarding malware.

The forum’s legal team purportedly advised it to suspend HUAWEI’s membership, with the team saying some information shared on the forum could potentially fall foul of the U.S. trade ban.

The group’s spokesperson told the outlet that “after extensive consultation and review, we regret ending up in a position where we had to suspend HUAWEI’s membership.”

This isn’t the first time HUAWEI’s membership status in an interest group has been affected as a result of the ban. HUAWEI was also initially suspended from dealing with Bluetooth SIG, the Wi-Fi Alliance, and the SD Association before being let back in.