The US Is Considering a TP-Link Router Ban—Should You Worry?
1 min read
Summary
TP-Link, one of the most popular router manufacturers in the US, is under investigation due to potential national security concerns about links to China.
The US Commerce, Defense, and Justice Departments are looking into TP-Link following a letter from two members of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party.
The lawmakers raised concerns that TP-Link products could be used to compromise US systems and hand over sensitive data to the Chinese government.
The company, which was founded in China in 1996, says it wants to prove its separation from TP-Link Tech and that it is a US company, pointing out that it has US headquarters, manufactures in Vietnam, and that its entities in China are controlled by the company.
Furthermore, TP-Link has signed the “Secure by Design” pledge and has a vulnerability disclosure program, although some dispute its reputation for patching vulnerabilities or dealing with security researchers.
Cybersecurity experts say the main concern is not that the Chinese government will hack individual devices but that they could use them as a part of a botnet to launch cyberattacks on government agencies or major service providers.
