TP-Link is about to be banned in the US, what happened?

According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), US authorities are planning to completely ban the sale of TP-Link brand routers in the country. A series of government regulatory agencies, including the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice, have jointly launched an extensive investigation into TP-Link, accusing the Chinese networking equipment manufacturer of signs of monopoly abuse, unfair competition, and harming US national security.

TP-Link is currently the leading supplier of networking equipment in the US, accounting for about 65% of the market share of home and small business routers in this country as of Q3 2024. Not only that, TP-Link products are also used by the Department of Defense and federal government agencies.

There have been a number of recent reports of cyberattacks in the United States involving TP-Link equipment. For example, Microsoft discovered a network of infected devices used by Chinese hackers to attack Azure customers, including research organizations, governments, and Department of Defense suppliers. More than 16,000 devices were used in the attack, mostly TP-Link routers.

Last May, a critical vulnerability (CVSS 10.0) in the Archer C5400X router allowed hackers to execute malicious code remotely. In addition, TP-Link routers are also frequently used in DDoS attacks.

US officials appear to believe that TP-Link is often slow to deploy patches when security vulnerabilities are discovered. Additionally, the Chinese company has been accused of frequently failing to address security flaws in its routers before they are shipped to customers.

In addition, TP-Link's dominance in the US due to its extremely low prices has also raised concerns about unfair competition. The US Department of Justice is investigating whether TP-Link's pricing strategy violates antitrust laws.

In response to the above serious allegations, a TP-Link representative said in a press release:

We welcome any opportunity to work with the U.S. government to demonstrate that our security practices are fully compliant with industry security standards and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the U.S. market, U.S. consumers, and addressing U.S. national security risks.

In addition, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said that the US is using national security reasons to suppress Chinese companies and pledged to protect the interests of Chinese companies.

Let's wait and see what happens, but if the ban is enacted, TP-Link users in the US will have to switch to other products like D-Link, Tenda, Netgear or similar products.

Kareem Winters

Update 20 December 2024