Russia and China are stepping up "worrying" cyber-spying activity, including last year's plot to hack the world chemical weapons watchdog, the Dutch intelligence service warned Tuesday.

Moscow's expanding conventional and nuclear forces are also a threat to the Netherlands and all of Europe, the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) said in its annual report.

"Offensive (cyber) activities, in particular by Russia and China, are worrying," the MIVD report said, adding it had uncovered "various digital espionage attempts" in 2018.

In April 2018 the Netherlands expelled four alleged agents from Russia's GRU military intelligence agency for trying to hack the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.

The Dutch broke with their usual practice of keeping such operations secret and exceptionally revealed details of the plot in October, in coordination with US and British authorities.

"That was necessary to increase the resilience of society, because less naivety means greater alertness to possible unwanted influences," MIVD chief General Onno Eichelsheim said in the report.

The Dutch agency also noted Russia's "growing involvement in conflicts that are outside Russia's traditional areas of interest," as well as the development of medium-range nuclear-capable missiles.

China, meanwhile, was "actively attempting to gather military intelligence in the Netherlands", the report said.

"The threat against defence is the stealing of military technological knowledge and technology that can be used both militarily and for civilian purposes."

Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Syria were also seeking "knowledge and goods" for their own weapons programmes in the Netherlands and other western countries, the MIVD said.

The service had checked on dozens of defence companies to reinforce their security, it added.

Vodafone identified Huawei security flaw decade ago
London (AFP) April 30, 2019 – British telecoms group Vodafone tackled a security flaw with Huawei technology a decade ago, it was revealed Tuesday amid widespread concerns over the Chinese giant developing 5G networks abroad.

Bloomberg reported that Vodafone, Europe's biggest mobile phone company, identified hidden so-called backdoors in software that could have handed Huawei unauthorized access to the carrier's fixed-line network in Italy used to connect to the internet.

The financial news wire cited Vodafone's security briefing documents from 2009 and 2011.

Vodafone confirmed to AFP that the issues were resolved but stressed it was incorrect to suggest that the flaw could have allowed unauthorized access to Italy's fixed-line network.

"The 'backdoor' that Bloomberg refers to is Telnet, which is a protocol that is commonly used by many vendors in the industry for performing diagnostic functions. It would not have been accessible from the internet," Vodafone said in an emailed statement.

"The issues were identified by independent security testing, initiated by Vodafone as part of our routine security measures, and fixed at the time by Huawei," it added.

Responding to the Bloomberg report, Huawei said:

"We were made aware of historical vulnerabilities in 2011 and 2012 and they were addressed at the time. Software vulnerabilities are an industry-wide challenge."

Huawei added in its statement that the Chinese group has "a well established public notification and patching process, and when a vulnerability is identified we work closely with our partners to take the appropriate corrective action".

Huawei is facing pushback in some Western markets over fears Beijing could spy on communications and gain access to critical infrastructure if allowed to develop foreign 5G networks offering instantaneous mobile data transfer.

The United States is adamantly opposed to Huawei's involvement because of the firm's obligation under Chinese law to help its home government gather intelligence or provide other security services when required.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has meanwhile urged caution over the role of Huawei in the UK, saying the government should think carefully before opening its doors to the technology giant to develop next-generation mobile networks.

His comments Monday came after media reports said Prime Minister Theresa May had conditionally allowed Huawei to build the UK 5G network.

Bloomberg added in its report that Vodafone chief executive Nick Read "has joined peers in publicly opposing any bans on Huawei from 5G rollouts, warning of higher costs and delays".