FCC prohibits the sale of new foreign-made router models

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned the sale of new consumer-grade router models that are produced in foreign countries.

According to the communications watchdog, foreign-produced routers pose a huge risk to America’s national security.

For starters, they introduce a so-called “supply chain vulnerability” that could disrupt the US economy, critical infrastructure, and national defense. On top of that, the regulator believes that routers from foreign manufacturers pose “a severe cybersecurity risk” that could be leveraged to cripple the US critical infrastructure or harm American citizens.

“Malicious actors have exploited security gaps in foreign-made routers to attack American households, disrupt networks, enable espionage, and facilitate intellectual property theft. Foreign-made routers were also involved in the Volt, Flax, and Salt Typhoon cyberattacks targeting vital US infrastructure,” the FCC says in a press release.

Routers that have been approved by the Department of War or the Department of Homeland Security and don’t pose unacceptable risks to America’s national security are exempted from the ban.

The ban means that new devices produced by manufacturers from abroad mentioned on the Covered List will not receive FCC authorization for import, use, or sale in the US. This update to the Covered List does not prohibit the sale or use of any existing device models the FCC previously authorized.

The Covered List entails the names of foreign companies that aren’t allowed to do business with American companies. For example, telecommunications equipment from Huawei and ZTE has been on the list since March 2021. The same goes for video surveillance cameras that are produced by Dahua, HikVision, and Hytera.

Other companies on the Covered List are Kaspersky, China Mobile, China Telecom, Pacific Networks, China Unicom, and manufacturers of foreign drones or Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) or UAS components, like DJI Technology.