OBJECTIVE: Something to think about.
This type of news comes around frequently over the last decade. Should we ban a Chinese manufactured product from entering our country.
The Wallstreet Journal just published an article on this with regards to one of the most popular wifi routers sold in the US on Amazon and other retailers.
U.S. Weighs Ban on Chinese-Made Router in Millions of American Homes
Trust in a foreign manufacturer should always be a concern to individuals taking risk based decisions for entire industries... or even your own home if you are personally inclined.
Imposing a ban does make sense, but one has to consider that most of the other crap in your house was also made directly in China, or China was involved in some part of the supply chain.
In a capitalist country, if someone is selling $25 routers, no one will want to pay $150 for one manufactured within your country. Once again, the ban makes sense, but since all the other routers could also be "suspicious" the ultimate solution will be more complex.
The only way I see off the top of my head to achieve this in a capitalist world is to subsidize key industries and produce the crap IN-COUNTRY. This takes a plan that goes beyond whining about it at the FTC or other government body to ban "some" crap while not really knowing what other crap would need to be banned. I say crap because lets face it, a $25 router cannot possibly be mil spec ;-)
Without subsidies for what could be identified as KEY INFRASTRUCTURE, Americans cannot produce (today) a $25 router. Once the economy tanks and people are starving, and civil war is at the door or completely in the yard, maybe.....
In the meantime, pick a router you can at least replace the OS on and get some sense of security, but unless you built your own hardware, a slight risk remains when faced with an adversary who has always thought long term when your culture cannot see past the next election.
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Eric Parent is a senior security expert, specialized in coaching senior executives. He occasionally teaches CyberSecurity at l'Ecole Polytechnique and HEC Universities in Montreal, and is CEO of Logicnet/EVA-Technologies, one of Canada's oldest privately owned security companies.
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