Explainer: Why are Australian government entities removing China-linked Dahua and Hikvision security cameras?

The war memorial is the second agency to disconnect the controversial devices, after the National Disability Insurance Agency, which did so in December last year as revealed by The Canberra Times.

The Defence department is now following suit.

One surveillance system is in operation at a Defence site, with work underway to have it removed.

These moves have raised a number of questions about how the technology is used, and whether it can be trusted.

Here is what we know so far.

In December 2022, the United States and United Kingdom restricted the sale of cameras made by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua on national security grounds, while the UK government also prohibited their use in sensitive buildings.

Shortly after this, Australia's National Disability Insurance Agency moved to replace the security surveillance system at its head office, spurring calls from Liberal senator James Paterson to identify where else the cameras were being used and "rip them out".

"The risk is for these issues is: Where does [footage] get captured? Who has access to it? What it might get used for?" UNSW Institute for Cyber Security director of enterprise Nigel Phair said.

"In the UK, particularly, there's been a lot of commentary and you'd like to think through the Five Eyes and now the AUKUS arrangement, there's a lot of information sharing.

"And if they're getting good information sharing from that, then they shouldn't have the cameras."

Hikvision or Dahua cameras have been used across a range of departmental and agency locations, including Services Australia, Treasury, Attorney-General's, Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Employment and Workplace Relations, DFAT, Infrastructure, Finance and Resources.

The NDIA, Australian War Memorial and Defence have said they are removing Hikvision or Dahua cameras.

"I would suggest they're probably cost-effective and easy to install," Mr Phair said of the technology's prevalence across government.

"A lot of government agencies were using Huawei because it was cost-effective," he added as an example.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Dr Samantha Hoffman agreed, adding the cameras were "all over the place" because they are "reasonable quality and they're cheap".

The war memorial, NDIA and Defence department have confirmed they will remove the China-linked cameras.

It is not yet clear whether all the agencies using the technology will follow suit, but Mr Phair said the national security risk will vary based on locations and departments.

He said the government should follow a "measured and then a competent response" if the devices are found to pose national security risk.

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However, Dr Hoffman said the use of the devices by government raised red flags for her, and in the last several years had been "strongly linked to the state".

"The issue with Chinese IoT devices is that generally speaking, you can't control who has access to the data that they're producing and collecting," she said.

"Even if the end user thinks that they're in control of the way that the product is being used, they aren't necessarily fully in control.

"As a general sort of principle, I don't think any government entities should be using those cameras on their properties," she said.

Consumers in Australia can add Hikvision and Dahua cameras to their carts.

So is there cause for private citizens to be concerned?

"I don't think they need to be," Mr Phair said, indicating the risk for consumers did not appear to be high.

"The risks aren't necessarily going to be felt or seen by any particular individual," Dr Hoffman said.

She said it was not about one individual's data, but how can that can be used by China to develop its technologies like facial recognition.