US govt. is considering a ban on Amazon’s bestselling router brand

The Wall Street Journal reports that US authorities have begun investigating whether routers by manufacturer TP-Link pose a threat to national security and whether a ban should be imposed on them.

The US Departments of Commerce, Defense, and Justice have all launched their own investigations into TP-Link, whose ubiquitous routers are among the top sellers on Amazon and have made their way into roughly 65 percent of US homes and small businesses. TP-Link devices are also used by the Department of Defense and other government agencies.

What’s so bad about TP-Link routers? Well, they come with security flaws and have been linked to cyberattacks in the past. For example, thousands of TP-Link routers were used in a hacker attack against Microsoft’s Azure cloud service early last month. The hackers behind the attack are believed to have links to the Chinese government. If US authorities instate a ban, it could happen as early as next year.

“We welcome any opportunity to work with the US government to demonstrate that our security practices are fully aligned with industry security standards, as well as to demonstrate our continued commitment to the US market, US customers, and the management of national security risks in the US,” a spokesperson for TP-Link’s US distributor said.