Europe’s public transport infrastructure has a fundamental security flaw: the Chinese company that built the bus can decide to stop it.
Hundreds of electric buses operating in the UK, Denmark, and Norway may possess a backdoor that links directly to China. This connection, theoretically designed for software updates, grants the manufacturer theoretical access to the vehicle’s power management system. The vulnerability was confirmed last month in a hole in the ground outside Oslo.
The Lion Cage
Ruter, the transit authority for Oslo, suspected something was up. They suspected their new fleet of Yutong electric buses was more connected than advertised. To test it out, they needed a “silent” environment. So they went to the Franzefoss Mine to test a newly delivered Yutong bus from China and a three-year-old model from Dutch manufacturer, VDL.
The rock walls of the mine acted as a massive Faraday cage, blocking all external signals — GPS, 4G, 5G. In this Faraday cage, engineers monitored the vehicle’s attempts to communicate.
The bus was trying to phone home.
The engineers discovered a pre-installed SIM card, roaming on a Romanian network, actively transmitting data. The SIM card was a two-way street, allowing for Over-the-Air (OTA) updates, a standard industry technology that lets manufacturers patch software remotely. But the access went deeper than the infotainment system. Ruter found the connection linked to the Battery Management System (BMS). This is the vehicle’s heart. If you control the BMS, you don’t need to steer the bus to crash it. You just tell the battery to go to sleep.
“There is access to the control system for battery and power supply via mobile network through a Romanian sim card. In theory, therefore, this bus can be stopped or rendered inoperable by the manufacturer,” says Ruter.
Ruter’s CEO, Bernt Reitan Jenssen, didn’t mince words. The test moved them “from concern to concrete knowledge.” They confirmed that the manufacturer could, in theory, render the bus inoperable.
Chinese ‘kill switches’ found in equipment at US solar firms trigger national security fears. What are they?
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Chinese ‘kill switches’ found in equipment at US solar firms trigger national security fears. What are they?
ET OnlineLast Updated: 26 May, 2025 06:02 PM -7 GMT
Engineers have discovered ‘kill switches’ embedded in Chinese-manufactured parts on American solar farms, raising fears Beijing could manipulate supplies or ‘physically destroy’ grids across the US, UK and Europe. Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar inverters have triggered fears of national security concerns. But what exactly are kill switches?
Cellular radios, acting as kill switches, were discovered embedded in power inverters produced by Chinese manufacturers and supplied to US power generators
Chinese “kill switches” that could allow Beijing to cripple power grids and trigger blackouts across the West were found in equipment at US solar farms earlier this month, raising fears that China could manipulate supplies or ‘physically destroy’ grids across the US, UK and Europe. US energy officials re-assessed the risk posed by small communication devices in power inverters – an integral component of renewable energy systems that connects them to the power grid.
According to Times, the rogue devices, including cellular radios, were discovered in Chinese-made power inverters that are used to connect solar panels and wind turbines to electricity grids across the world, including the UK. The hidden communications equipment could be deployed remotely to switch off inverters with potentially catastrophic results.
But US experts found rogue communication devices in some solar power inverters not listed in product documents, Reuters reported citing sources.
Chinese ‘kill switches’ found hidden in US solar farms
Hidden cellular radios could be activated remotely to cripple power grids in the event of a confrontation between China and the West
Solar farm inverters with remote-access connections form part of the connection to the main grid power network. The Chinese-made units contained undisclosed transmittersGETTY IMAGES
Chinese “kill switches” that could allow Beijing to cripple power grids and trigger blackouts across the West have been found in equipment at US solar farms.
The rogue devices, including cellular radios, were discovered in Chinese-made power inverters that are used to connect solar panels and wind turbines to electricity grids across the world, including the UK.
The hidden communications equipment could be deployed remotely to switch off inverters with potentially catastrophic results.
The discovery, reported by Reuters, will heighten concerns that China has installed covert malware in critical energy infrastructure throughout the US and Europe. The kill switches could be deployed at any time in the event of a confrontation between China and the West.
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Mike Rogers, a former director of the US National Security Agency, said China had a vested interest in putting US infrastructure at risk
JACQUELYN MARTIN/AP
Over the past nine months, the suspect devices were found in inverters and batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers by US experts who strip down equipment to check for security issues before they are connected to power grids.
Inverters are built to include remote access via the cellular network and utility companies commonly install firewalls to prevent hacking and communication back to China. However, the rogue components were not listed in product documents when they were shipped to the US.
Using the devices to get around firewalls, China could potentially switch off inverters remotely or change their settings to bring down the grid.
“That effectively means there is a built-in way to physically destroy the grid,” one source told Reuters.
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One alarming security incident occurred in November, when solar power inverters in the US were disabled from China. The number of inverters that were affected and the damage done remains unclear, but the incident underscores the risk posed by Chinese technology being used in the West’s electricity networks.
Chinese infiltration of strategic US infrastructure has long been a source of concern as tensions rise between the rival superpowers. Beijing’s dominance over the manufacturing of essential parts for batteries and high-tech devices is seen as a critical security weakness. Chinese companies are required by law to co-operate with the country’s intelligence agencies, giving Beijing potential control over Chinese-made inverters connected to foreign power grids.
“We know that China believes there is value in placing at least some elements of our core infrastructure at risk of destruction or disruption,” Mike Rogers, a former director of the US National Security Agency, said. “I think that the Chinese are, in part, hoping that the widespread use of inverters limits the options that the West has to deal with the security issue.”
The world’s largest supplier of inverters is Huawei, the Chinese tech giant that was barred from US telecoms networks on national security grounds in 2019 during President Trump’s first term. The company was accused of building backdoor access into its 5G telecoms equipment that could allow surveillance by the Chinese government. Huawei denied the claim.
The UK and Europe could also be exposed by Chinese-made parts in solar farms and wind turbines. A British government review of Chinese technology in the country’s renewable energy infrastructure is underway and will examine the risk posed by inverters made in China.
“Ten years ago, if you switched off the Chinese inverters, it would not have caused a dramatic thing to happen to European grids, but now the critical mass is much larger,” Philipp Schröder, the chief executive of German solar developer 1Komma5, said. The company avoids using Huawei inverters because of the potential security risk.
“China’s dominance is becoming a bigger issue because of the growing renewables capacity on Western grids and the increased likelihood of a prolonged and serious confrontation between China and the West,” Schröder added.
The wing-tip of a US U-2 surveillance plane is visible in this picture of the Chinese surveillance balloon that drifted over North America in 2023, conducting electronic surveillance.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE/MEGA
US officials have called for a sweeping reassessment of potential security weaknesses in light of the latest alarm.
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