You likely heard by now about the big router ban put into place by the FCC, targeting foreign companies. Its goal is to strengthen national security and protect users from (potentially) less-regulated hardware that could (potentially) place users at risk. I lean into the word “potentially” only because security is hit or miss, but not always a miss. Now, it seems Netgear has become the first brand to get the green light from the FCC
It’s all about cybersecurity, and a lot of it has been triggered by the continuous plague of foreign state-sponsored cyberattacks. Nepharious groups have been targeting hardware vulnerabilities and backdoors, allowing massive breaches against routers worldwide. So the FCC is “cracking down” to help protect US citizens against future (potential) backdoor/vulnerability mishaps.
In a public notice sent out by the FCC, it states that Netgear has been given conditional approval to continue selling its products through October 1st, 2027. Now, you might be asking: “Why would Netgear even face being banned if it is a US company?”
Well, Netgear is indeed a US company, but its products are manufactured overseas (like most companies). So there are (potential) opportunities for external forces to attempt to sneak in backdoors and other vulnerabilities.
The FCC doesn’t get too wordy about why it gave Netgear a pass. In fact, they don’t provide any reason outside of claiming that it poses no threat to national security. Maybe it is because Netgear is one of the biggest brands out there, and one of the most popular for US consumers. Maybe it is because someone high up was paid off. Maybe they shared their technology and source code with incredibly intelligent engineers at the Pentagon who confirmed everything is solid (I doubt that). I guess we may never know. But the point of the story is that Netgear got the pass and can continue selling its products (at least, until October 1st, 2027).
This might shed a little hope on the process it takes for companies to still be able to continue selling products within the US.
