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Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd., often shortened to Hikvision, is a Chinese
state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public owne ...
manufacturer and supplier of video surveillance equipment for civilian and military purposes, headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Due to its involvement in
mass surveillance Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organizati ...
of
Uyghurs The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia, Cent ...
, the
Xinjiang internment camps The Xinjiang internment camps, officially called vocational education and training centers ( zh, 职业技能教育培训中心, Zhíyè jìnéng jiàoyù péixùn zhōngxīn) by the government of China, are internment camps operated ...
, and national security concerns, the company has been placed under sanctions from the U.S. and European governments.


History

Hikvision was founded in 2001 by Zhejiang HIK Information Technology Co., Ltd. () with the company having a 51% stake and Gong Hongjia () a 49% stake at that time. Hikvision has been listed on the
Shenzhen Stock Exchange The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE; ) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shenzhen, in the People's Republic of China. It is one of three stock exchanges operating independently in Mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Exch ...
since 2010. In October 2016, the company concluded a deal to use Movidius'
computer vision Computer vision is an interdisciplinary scientific field that deals with how computers can gain high-level understanding from digital images or videos. From the perspective of engineering, it seeks to understand and automate tasks that the human ...
technology. In May 2017, Hikvision established Hikstorage, a subsidiary focused on the production of storage devices. In January 2021, the company won a US$33 million, 1,900-camera smart city project in
Shanghe County Shanghe County () is under the administration of Jinan, the capital of Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong ha ...
, Shandong that includes cameras with facial recognition and license plate recognition technologies. In 2021,
Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...
,
Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...
, and
Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. (), often shortened to Lowe's, is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States and Canada. A ...
stopped selling cameras from Hikvision brand Ezviz due to concerns about Hikvision's complicity in surveillance and human rights violations in Xinjiang. In 2022, Hikvision was awarded a Chinese government contract to develop software to track "key people" in order to prevent them from entering Beijing. The same year, IPVM also reported that Hikvision has specific alarms in its software to alert Chinese police to "religion, Falun Gong, and various protest activities. Amazon Web Services provides cloud services to Hikvision.


Sanctions and bans

In January 2019, the U.S. government began considering whether it should sanction Hikvision, which American government officials described as having "provided thousands of cameras that monitor mosques, schools, and concentration camps in Xinjiang." The U.S. government banned Hikvision from receiving federal government contracts in August 2019 due to security concerns. In October 2019, Hikvision was formally placed on the
Entity List The Entity List is a trade restriction list published by the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), consisting of certain foreign persons, entities, or governments. Entities on the Entity List are subject to ...
by the U.S. government, which stated that it was involved in surveillance of
Uyghurs The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia, Cent ...
in Xinjiang and of other ethnic and religious minorities in China. Hikvision expressed its opposition to the U.S. decision and stated that they believe the decision had no factual basis. They urged the U.S. government to re-examine its decision. In response to the bans and sanctions, Hikvision has hired former
U.S. ambassador Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve as the country's diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as ambassadors-at-large. Under Article II, Section 2 of the U. ...
Pierre-Richard Prosper "to advise the company regarding human rights compliance" as well as numerous lobbyists, including former U.S. senators David Vitter and
Barbara Boxer Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U.S ...
, former U.S. congressman
Toby Moffett Anthony John Moffett, Jr. (born August 18, 1944) is a former American politician from the state of Connecticut. A Democrat, Moffett served in the United States House of Representatives as the member from Connecticut's 6th congressional distri ...
, and a former senior
OFAC The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy ob ...
official. In August 2020, the
Indian government The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...
banned Hikvision from bidding in government tenders and also required removal of Hikvison cameras from military and high-security areas. In April 2021, the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
confirmed that it had removed Hikvision thermal cameras from its premises following the approval of an amendment sponsored by Dutch MEP
Lara Wolters Lara Wolters is a Dutch politician of the Labour Party who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. Early life and education After studying law and European social and political studies (ESPS) at the University Coll ...
calling for the removal of "all of Hikvision’s thermal cameras from Parliament’s premises" due to "an unacceptable risk that Hikvision, through its operations in Xinjiang, is contributing to serious human rights abuses." In July 2021, the UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee published a report stating that Hikvision cameras "have been deployed throughout Xinjiang, and provide the primary camera technology used in the internment camps". In June 2022, documents from the
Xinjiang Police Files The Xinjiang Police Files are leaked documents from the Xinjiang internment camps, forwarded to anthropologist Adrian Zenz from an anonymous source. On May 24, 2022, an international consortium of 14 media groups published information about the ...
showed how Hikvision technology is used by Xinjiang police to surveil all Xinjiang residents. In June 2021, 224 Hikvision products were banned for one year by South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT over forged test reports. In September 2021, the
Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...
's headquarters "asked its all formations to 'discontinue' procurement of CCTV cameras and surveillance systems from Hikvision," according to ''The Week''. ''The Week'' also reported that the Indian Navy had ordered the replacement and destruction of its existing Hikvision cameras. In April 2022, the UK Department of Health and Social Care banned the purchase of Hikvision cameras. In November 2022, the UK prohibited the use of Hikvision equipment in government buildings.


United States

In November 2020, U.S. President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
issued an executive order prohibiting any American company or individual from owning shares in companies that the
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...
has listed as having links to the
People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...
, which included Hikvision. In December 2020, Hikvision was removed from FTSE Russell. On 12 January 2021, the Joe Biden inaugural committee returned a $500 donation to former U.S. Senator
Barbara Boxer Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U.S ...
(D-CA) after she registered as a foreign agent for Hikvision. In March 2021, the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) declared that Hikvision services and equipment "pose an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security." In November 2022, the FCC banned sales or import of equipment made by Hikvision for national security reasons.


Ownership

Hikvision was owned by China Electronics Technology HIK Group Co., Ltd. (HIK Group, ), a wholly owned subsidiary of China Electronics Technology Group, which has a 39.59% stake. China Electronics Technology Group is a state-run enterprise owned and supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. China Electronics Technology Group holds an additional 1.96% stake of Hikvision via its 52nd research institute (). The Chairman of Hikvision, Chen Zongnian (), is also the chairman and the Party Committee Secretary of HIK Group, and Head of the aforementioned research institute. the firm's largest individual shareholder was vice-chairman Gong Hongjia with a 13% stake. As of 12 2019
Fidelity International Fidelity International Ltd, or FIL for short, is a company that provides investment management services including mutual funds, pension management and fund platforms to private and institutional investors. Fidelity International was originally e ...
was also a major investor in Hikvision. In 2017, the third largest shareholder was a private equity fund () which had a 7% stake, which is associated with then Hikvision general manager Hu Yangzhong. According to previous filing, "Xinjian Weixun" was also associated with Liu Xiang (), former director (from 2015 to March 2018) and former deputy general manager of Hikvision, then deputy general manager of HIK Group, chairman of sister listed company Phenix Optical. In 2017, the fourth largest shareholder was another private equity fund () which had a 2% stake. The fund was partly owned by Gong's wife Chen Chunmei () and aforementioned Hu Yangzhong. Hu Yangzhong also owned an additional 1.33% stake personally. To sum up, those shareholders owned a combined 65.71% stake. Lastly, Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company owned 9.77%, which was the nominees of the
Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect () is a cross-boundary investment channel that connects the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Under the program, investors in each market are able to trade shares on the other market using th ...
and
Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect (SEHKSZSE) () is a cross-boundary investment channel that connects the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Under the program, investors in each market are able to trade shares on the other mark ...
. In 2021, IPVM alleged that Hikvision was created and controlled by the Chinese government.


Alleged attempts to conceal government ownership

In 2015, IPVM criticized Hikvision for allegedly obscuring its Chinese government ownership. Jeffrey He, president of Hikvision North America, had criticized the online blogger site for allegedly seeking financial gain. Alan West, in a 2016 interview published by ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' (and re-published by ''
The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
''), suggested that Hikvision's ownership raised ethical and security concerns when it came to the usage of Hikvision's products by the British government.


Cybersecurity vulnerabilities

In May 2017, seven series of Hikvision cameras were affected by an improper authentication vulnerability which, if exploited, could allow "a malicious attacker oescalat his or her privileges or assum the identity of an authenticated user and btainsensitive data," according to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. In May 2021, Italian public broadcaster RAI reported that Hikvision cameras automatically "opened communication channels with addresses registered in China" once connected to the internet. Hikvision declined to comment on the RAI investigation. In September 2021, Hikvision announced a command injection vulnerability with the CVE-ID CVE-2021-36260. ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' reported that the vulnerability, which has a CVSS base score of 9.8 out of 10, left dozens of Hikvision camera models "susceptible to remote hijacking" without requiring a username or password. In 2022, ''Axios'' reported that Hikvision had hired FTI Consulting to conduct cybersecurity audits of its products.


Notes


References

Technology companies of China Companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Companies in the CSI 100 Index Electronics companies of China Video surveillance companies Action cameras Camcorders Manufacturing companies based in Hangzhou Technology companies established in 2001 Chinese brands Government-owned companies of China Defence companies of the People's Republic of China {{authority control