The US government has just banned consumer routers made outside the US

In December, the F.C.C Banned all future drones made in foreign countries From importation into the United States, unless or until its manufacturer obtains an exemption. Now, the FCC has. I did the exact same thing to consumer networking equipment, citing “an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and to the safety and security of American persons.”

If you already have a Wi-Fi or wired router, you can continue to use it — and foreign companies that have already obtained an FCC radio license for a particular product can continue to import that product.

But since the vast majority – if not all – of consumer routers are manufactured outside the United States, the vast majority of future consumer routers are now blocked. By adding all foreign-made consumer routers to the covered list, the FCC says it will no longer allow its own radios, effectively banning the import of new devices into the country.

Now, router makers need to a) Get “conditional approval” This allows them to continue to have new products licensed to enter the US while they work to convince the government that they will open manufacturing in the US, or b) decide to skip selling future products in the US, as drone maker DJI has already done.

As with the foreign drone ban, The FCC has a national security ruling It says it justifies these actions, which claims that “allowing foreign-produced routers to dominate the U.S. market creates unacceptable risks to the economy, national security, and cybersecurity,” and that “foreign-produced routers were directly involved in the Volt, Flex, and Salt Typhoon cyberattacks that targeted critical U.S. communications, energy, transportation, and water infrastructure.”

“Given the importance of routers to the successful functioning of our nation’s economy and defense, the United States can no longer rely on foreign countries to manufacture routers,” another section read.

It’s true that a large number of vulnerabilities in routers have emerged over the years, making them a popular target for hackers and botnets. It is also true that one Chinese company, TP-Link, dominates the American consumer market; US authorities had previously considered imposing a specific ban on TP-Link Because of that dominance and national security concerns.

However, it’s not clear how simply moving router production locally would make them more secure. In the Volt Typhoon hack, Chinese state-sponsored hackers Primarily targeting Cisco and Netgear routers, Routers designed by American companies, according to the Department of Justice. Those US companies stopped providing security updates because they discontinued those products.

while FCC Covered List. Makes it look like the US is banning everyone “Routers produced in a foreign country” is defined a little more narrowly than that. It specifically prohibits “consumer routers” as defined in NIST Internal Report 8425Awhich refers to those that are “intended for residential use and can be installed by the customer.”