United States authorities are currently investigating potential national security risks tied to a telecom company founded in China whose internet routers are used by millions, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
U.S. officers are reportedly concerned that cheap and ubiquitous routers made by TP-Link could offer a foothold for China-backed hackers into US infrastructure, the sources said.
The Commerce Department has opened a probe into the company that is in its nascent stages. One possible outcome of the probe is a ban on the sale of TP-Link routers in the US, two of the sources, said.
It’s just one of a flurry of actions the Biden administration has taken in its waning days that officials say are aimed at blunting China’s ability to hack the American telecoms sector. The actions will carry into President-elect Donald Trump's administration as it inherits the steep challenge of trying to counter China’s aggressive use of cyber operations to collect intelligence.
The Commerce Department last week also sent a "preliminary finding" as part of a separate inquiry into another company, the US subsidiary of China Telecom, the state-owned telecoms giant, related to national security risks that US officials believe stem from the use of its equipment by American telecom companies, two sources said. It’s the first step in a potential purge of any remaining China Telecom gear from US carriers.
All of it comes as major US telecom carriers are still working to evict Chinese hackers from their networks in a cyber-espionage campaign that targeted senior US political figures, including President-elect Donald Trump.
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