Heather Somerville, Dustin Volz, and Aruna Viswanatha’s report for The Wall Street Journal discusses how U.S. authorities are considering a ban on Chinese-made routers that are used in millions of American homes. The concern is that these devices, commonly manufactured by Chinese companies, could be used by the Chinese government for espionage or to compromise U.S. networks. They write:
U.S. authorities are investigating whether a Chinese company whose popular home-internet routers have been linked to cyberattacks poses a national-security risk and are considering banning the devices.
The router-manufacturer TP-Link, established in China, has roughly 65% of the U.S. market for routers for homes and small businesses. It is also the top choice on Amazon.com, and powers internet communications for the Defense Department and other federal government agencies.
Investigators at the Commerce, Defense and Justice departments have opened their own probes into the company, and authorities could ban the sale of TP-Link routers in the U.S. next year, according to people familiar with the matter. An office of the Commerce Department has subpoenaed TP-Link, some of the people said. […]
Taiwan, which has broad restrictions on the use of technology from China, has banned TP-Link routers from government and educational facilities. The Indian government, which has also clashed with China, issued a warning this year about TP-Link, saying the routers presented a security risk.
U.S. officials haven’t disclosed any evidence that TP-Link is a witting conduit for Chinese state-sponsored cyberattacks.
American router companies have also been linked to major hacks. U.S. investigators have linked some recent intrusions into critical infrastructure, attributed to a Chinese hacking group dubbed Volt Typhoon, to aging routers built by Silicon Valley-based Cisco Systems and Netgear. […]
In a patent dispute that resulted in a verdict against TP-Link in Texas, a U.S. federal judge last year rejected the company’s argument that there was no relationship between the U.S. and China businesses, calling the claim “implausible.” The company is appealing the verdict.
Read more here.
