A U.S. technology firm has sued Chinese giant Huawei for allegedly stealing its trade secrets and covertly collecting other sensitive information via a “data backdoor”.

The suit comes after the two firms worked together on a project for the Pakistani government.

From Reuters:

Buena Park, Calif.-based software company Business Efficiency Solutions LLC has sued Huawei in California federal court for allegedly stealing its trade secrets following their work together on a project for the Pakistani government.

BES also accused the Chinese tech giant in the Wednesday complaint of using its technology to create a “backdoor” that allowed it to collect sensitive data “important to Pakistan’s national security.”

According to the complaint, Huawei subcontracted with BES in 2016 for its $150 million bid to develop software for a Pakistani government program providing new technology for police and law enforcement in Lahore. BES said it created software for the project that collects data from government agencies, controls access to buildings, monitors social media and manages drones, among other things.

[…]

BES said Huawei later demanded it install its data-aggregation software – used by Pakistani law enforcement to collect and analyze “sensitive data from different sources and government agencies” – in its Chinese lab, “this time not merely for testing purposes but with full access to data at the Lahore Safe City project.” BES said it agreed, under threat of termination and withheld payments, after Huawei said it had approval from the Pakistani government.

The complaint accused Huawei of using the software “as a backdoor from China into Lahore to gain access, manipulate, and extract sensitive data important to Pakistan’s national security.”