Huawei appoints former government IT chief John Suffolk to tackle cyber security

Chinese telecoms firm Huawei has appointed former government chief information officer John Suffolk as global cyber security officer in a move that underlines the firm's growing ambitions.

Suffolk, who served in his government role for five years, will work in Huawei's Chinese headquarters in Shenzhen, which V3 visited in May, where he will develop the firm's cyber security assurance strategies across all business divisions.

The appointment of such a high-ranking former government IT official underlines the strength of Huawei's standing in the market, and the company's desire to improve its position on the global stage by recruiting world-class and well-connected talent.

Writing in a blog post Suffolk explained that in order to take the role he had to apply for official approval from the prime minister, which was granted on 12 July.

This means Suffolk's appointment begins on 1 October and he gave some more insight into the nature of the work he will do at Huawei.

"My role will be to ensure that our cyber security assurance system integrates end-to-end cyber security into solutions covering our cloud computing solutions, pipes/ telecommunications and all devices from mobile broadband to PDAs," he said.

The Cabinet Office explained that as well as having to wait six months to take the role there were also an "unprecedented" number of other conditions that Suffolk must adhere to.

This includes no advice, lobbying or dealings with any work relating to the government for two years or implying any endorsement of Huawei's products by the government.

He must also not "draw on any privileged information that was available to him as a civil servant" or "seek advice from security authorities about any risks to the confidentiality of communications which might be of concern to those authorities".