After putting nationwide blocks on companies such as Huawei and DJI in recent years, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has now placed a blanket ban on new routers that aren’t made in America.
The ruling applies to “consumer-grade routers” that are “produced in foreign countries”, the FCC says, and approval won’t be granted to such devices in the future — though those that are already on sale and in use are safe.
As per the FCC, routers made outside the borders of the US represent both a “supply chain vulnerability” and a “severe cybersecurity risk”. In other words, there are suspicions that problems in router supply could disrupt the US economy and infrastructure, and that they could be used by foreign states to spy on the communications of US citizens.
It’s part of a wider movement by the US to reduce its reliance on other countries for hardware and software. The FCC’s statement pointed to a series of recent cyberattacks – including Volt, Flax, and Salt Typhoon – that involved foreign-made router technology.
It’s possible that router manufacturers based in the US will be treated more favorably than foreign entities in the future – TP-Link is one of the companies that’s been accused of having strong connections to the Chinese government – but it’s going to take a while before we get the full picture of how this decision will play out.
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