U.S. Defense Dept Purchased Chinese IT Equipment with Known Vulnerabilities for Use at Sensitive Base.

 

• TP-LINK DEVICES IN THE UNITED STATES.

  A review of the online retail websites for United States military exchanges, the retail stores located on American military bases worldwide, shows multiple TP-Link devices being sold. This has the potential for an enormous risk of data compromise and should be considered a matter of national security. In addition to online sales and retail stores on military bases, a review of federal contracts through the website USASpending.gov reveals purchases of TP-Link equipment by the Department of Defense for operational purposes. They may want to start with not purchasing vulnerable Chinese equipment. Four additional contracts between 2021-2022 totaling $9,703 were awarded for purchases of TP-Link equipment by the Defense Logistics Agency. In 2017, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center purchased 8 fiber network converters made by TP-Link.

• WHAT IS TP-LINK?

  TP-Link primarily manufactures routers, network switches, access points, wi-fi range extenders, and related accessories, including mesh network devices under the brand name Deco. Additionally, they have entered the smartphone market under the brand name Neffos. TP-Link’s Privacy Policy states, “Your information will be transferred or transmitted to, or stored and processed in…Places we have infrastructure or data centers, including the United States, Ireland, and Singapore, among other Countries where TP-Link Products and Services are available.” TP-Link is headquartered in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China. The policy goes on to say, “These countries may have different privacy standards that differ from where you are. Currently, 15 of the top 50 best-selling routers on Amazon.com are manufactured by TP-Link.

• TP-Link products are a notorious security risk. In March 2022, the website GizChina, which reviews Chinese technology products, reported that TP-Link routers had been discovered sending a users traffic to a third-party company, despite user settings that had been switched off to prevent this. With all of the security vulnerabilities being discovered in electronics manufactured in China that can be exploited by the Chinese government, it seems these vulnerabilities are more of a feature, not a bug. In addition to China’s creeping control over technology used in the United States, many have also sounded the alarm regarding Chinese purchases of American agricultural land. A number of state governments are looking to ban such purchases.

https://thenationalpulse.com/2023/02/24/u-s-defense-dept-purchased-chinese-it-equipment-with-known-vulnerabilities-for-use-at-sensitive-base/