Chinese takeover of UK smoke alarm maker triggers national security alert
National security restrictions have been placed on a tiny British manufacturer of smoke alarms after it was taken over by a state-owned Chinese company.
Pat McFadden, minister for the Cabinet Office, issued a notice banning Kent-based FireBlitz Extinguisher from selling its own internet-connected devices and from sharing data with 'certain entities'.
The order was imposed through the National Security and Investment Act after the company was acquired by Canadian-based Maple Armor, which is in turn part of Beijing-headquartered fire alarm company Jade Bird.
Jade Bird's largest shareholder is Peking University, which like other Chinese academic institutions has close links with the country's communist government.
Weimin Cai, who is Jade Bird's chairman and founded the business in 2001, has also been listed as a director of FireBlitz since April 2024, according to Companies House.
No explicit reason was given for the UK Government's restrictions on FireBlitz. However, under the 2021 act, ministers have wide-ranging powers to intervene in takeovers that are seen to pose potential risks to national security.
The Cabinet Office said Mr McFadden had deemed the restrictions 'necessary and proportionate' following 'a detailed national security assessment'.
A spokesman said: 'The National Security and Investment Act enables the government to continue championing open investment while protecting national security.
'As you would expect, we cannot comment further given the quasi-judicial nature of the Government's investment screening powers.'
Such orders are usually issued to tackle either imminent security risks or perceived risks that might arise in future.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by FireBlitz, Maple Armor or Jade Bird.
'Sensors in every room'
FireBlitz's products are used by a string of fire and rescue services across the country, as well as other public bodies.
It secured a joint contract worth up to £40m in 2015 to supply smoke alarms and hard-wired alarms to YPO, a major supplier to the public sector, as well as another joint contract worth up to £30m in 2021 to supply smoke alarms to all of the country's fire services.
The Government's order restricts what kinds of devices the company can sell in future and how it uses data.
It bans FireBlitz from developing, manufacturing or marketing its own 'internet of things' devices – products that can connect to the internet and wirelessly transmit information to each other – or sell them in partnership with companies based in countries 'outside of a pre-approved list'.
The company was also banned from sharing data it collects from any internet-connected devices with any other entities.
One cyber security expert said that digitally-enabled fire alarms could theoretically pose a risk as they could be remotely accessed and used for snooping or to gain access secure buildings.
Ken Munro, founder of Pen Test Partners, said such alarms are typically connected to 'smart' door systems and automatically disengage the locks when a fire is detected in a building, so that people can escape safely.
He said: 'So if you want to break in somewhere, you just trigger the alarm remotely, and it unlocks all the doors.'
Internet connected smoke alarms also amounted to 'a sensor in every room', he added.
'Who's to say what's inside that smoke sensor? It's going to be networked, so it's going to be somewhere on the core network. It's going to have an interface, so could easily end up being a backdoor, particularly if it's cloud connected.
'So therefore, you've got a fire alarm that's probably connected to a cloud [computing server]. And that cloud's probably in China somewhere, if it's Chinese.'
China has previously been accused by Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, of espionage on an 'epic scale' and MPs have called for the country to be designated as a threat to Britain.
There is no suggestion that Jade Bird or FireBlitz is engaged in espionage.
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