Two US lawmakers need the Joe Biden administration to probe China’s TP-Hyperlink and its associates for potential nationwide safety dangers from their extensively used Wi-Fi routers over fears they might be utilized in cyberattacks towards the US.
Republican consultant John Moolenaar and Democratic consultant Raja Krishnamoorthi, who lead the US home choose committee on China, requested a commerce division probe in a Tuesday letter seen by Reuters.
In response to analysis agency IDC, TP-Hyperlink, which focuses on the patron market, is the highest vendor of Wi-Fi routers internationally by unit quantity.
In calling for an investigation, the US legislators cited identified vulnerabilities in TP-Hyperlink firmware and cases of its routers being exploited to focus on authorities officers in European international locations.
“We request that commerce confirm the risk posed by [China-affiliated small office/home office] routers —significantly these provided by the world’s largest producer, TP-Hyperlink,” in keeping with the letter to commerce secretary Gina Raimondo. They known as it a “obvious nationwide safety difficulty”.
The commerce division mentioned it could reply to the letter by applicable channels. The Chinese language embassy mentioned it hopes authorities will “have sufficient proof when figuring out cyber-related incidents, moderately than make groundless speculations and allegations.”
TP-Hyperlink, based in China in 1996 by two brothers and based mostly in Shenzhen, mentioned in an announcement that the corporate doesn’t promote any router merchandise within the US and that its routers do not need cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
Mounting considerations
The letter is an indication of mounting considerations that Beijing might exploit Chinese language-origin routers and different tools in cyberattacks on American governments and companies.
The US, its allies and Microsoft final 12 months disclosed a Chinese language government-linked hacking marketing campaign dubbed Volt Hurricane. By taking management of privately owned routers, the attackers sought to cover subsequent assaults on American crucial infrastructure. The overwhelming majority of affected routers, nonetheless, seemed to be from Cisco and NetGear, the justice division mentioned in January.
Final 12 months, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Company mentioned TP-Hyperlink routers had a vulnerability that might be exploited to execute distant code.
Across the similar time, US safety firm Test Level reported that hackers linked to a Chinese language state-sponsored group used a malicious firmware implant for TP-Hyperlink to focus on European overseas affairs officers.
The commerce division has broad powers to ban or limit transactions between US companies and web, telecommunications and expertise corporations from “overseas adversary” nations like China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela if their merchandise pose a nationwide safety danger. — Alexandra Alper, with Eduardo Baptista, (c) 2024 Reuters
