Country that put backdoors in Cisco routers to spy on world bans foreign routers

Country that put backdoors into Cisco routers to spy on world bans foreign routers

Unfortunately, there aren't many options unless you're Starlink

Citing national security fears, America is effectively banning any new consumer-grade network routers made abroad.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has updated its Covered List to include all foreign-made consumer routers, prohibiting the approval of any new models.

For clarification, the FCC says this change does not prevent the import, sale, or use of any existing models that the agency previously authorized.

That Covered List details equipment and services covered by Section 2 of The Secure Networks Act, which, by their inclusion, are deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to US national security.

According to the FCC, this move follows a determination by a "White House-convened Executive Branch interagency body with appropriate national security expertise," in line with President Trump's National Security Strategy that the US must not be dependent on any other country for core components necessary to the nation's defense or economy.

Its determination was that foreign-produced routers introduce a supply chain vulnerability which could disrupt critical infrastructure and national defense, and pose a severe cybersecurity risk that could harm Americans.

The FCC notes that miscreants have exploited security flaws in routers to disrupt networks or steal intellectual property, and routers are also implicated in the Volt, Flax, and Salt Typhoon cyberattacks.

There is an element of hypocrisy in all this because American intelligence agencies were previously caught intercepting Cisco-made routers on their way to customers and updating their firmware to deploy espionage tools.

The flaw with the policy is that practically all routers are manufactured in other countries, even those sold by American firms such as Cisco or Netgear. According to the BBC, the one exception is the newer Starlink Wi-Fi router, which the company says is manufactured in Texas.

Thus this could be viewed as another heavy-handed market interference by the Trump administration, in a bid to get IT companies to invest in manufacturing on US soil.

There is an exemption for products that the Department of Defense or the Department of Homeland Security have granted "Conditional Approval" after finding these devices do not pose such unacceptable risks. Router makers can apply to the FCC to get on the approved list.

"I welcome this Executive Branch national security determination, and I am pleased that the FCC has now added foreign-produced routers, which were found to pose an unacceptable national security risk, to the FCC's Covered List," stated FCC chair Brendan Carr.