USA mulling TP-Link router ban over national security risk

Cheap and cheerful, but popular consumer brand, could have ramifications here too...

US reportedly mulls TP-Link router ban over national security risk

Hmm. So there is a security concern. Or is it protectionism masquerading as a security concern?

Are TP-link culpably involved? Or is it that their routers are a good target for attack because they have 65% of the market for home and small businesses?

So many questions.

I have several TP-Link Tapo smart switches. I did try to use one for powering my router off and on. It could turn the router off but because the schedule is held on the internet it never turned the router back on.

I start from the position that anything coming from the USA at the moment relating to a Chinese company is part of their ongoing protectionist strategy.

In reply to a post by DFScale:

Hmm. So there is a security concern. Or is it protectionism masquerading as a security concern?

Are TP-link culpably involved? Or is it that their routers are a good target for attack because they have 65% of the market for home and small businesses?

So many questions.

Some very good questions. Whilst i do agree that China spies on the uk and usa, banning products won't solve that or reduce it. Whilst you could put in secret routes and or storage areas to collect data, it would be found out very quickly in most cases and in all cases the threat is migrated completely if you change vendor.

so its all about American interests.

In reply to a post by jpm:

I start from the position that anything coming from the USA at the moment relating to a Chinese company is part of their ongoing protectionist strategy.

I would agree on that as well, they want a bigger piece of that pie, easiest way to get is to ban the competition.

If it all spills over to the UK including banning the app, then I have a fair few smart devices to replace.

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

I have several TP-Link Tapo smart switches. I did try to use one for powering my router off and on. It could turn the router off but because the schedule is held on the internet it never turned the router back on.

I have some Tapo stuff too and that's been a complaint of mine as well. Some of their buttons and sensors use a Hub which is better.

It's clear to me now though that Zigbee (rather than Wifi) is the way to go for smart stuff. I've been buying a load of stuff from Sonoff recently and I think they might be my new favourite brand for smart things. They have remote control too of course which does make me a bit weary but everything can still be controlled locally.

It all started with a smart thermostatic radiator valve and thermometer / hygrometer and then I decided I might as well replace all of the other radiators in the house too, then I decided to add a human presence sensor to the kitchen to complement my Tapo motion sensor because I have automations to turn the lights on / off (I'm lazy) but the problem with a motion sensor is it seemingly cannot detect a person standing still so the lights would turn off when I don't want them to (the presence sensor has a radar in it that solves this).

I bought some Zigbee USB smart switches too just for the fun of it, I don't really need them for anything but I found a use for them. I set up an automation to keep my phone charged to 80% and the switch will turn off. It'll turn back on again when it gets below 80 again. It's not the most useful thing in the world to be honest, it would be more useful to control things that need USB power like little fans or LED strips, etc.

You do need a hub for all of this though. I'm using their Matter Compatible Smart Hub which is nice because it supports Matter which means it can easily be added to different ecosystems that support it. I have it connected to Home Assistant, Google Home and an Apple HomePod and they can all see and interact with the devices because Matter is a universally supported standard. If you're running Home Assistant like I am the Matter integration can be a bit buggy sometimes though, another minor issue is that you will get names like "SONOFF SNZB-02P" showing up by default even if you set a different name in the device settings in the eWeLink app so you have to rename the bridged devices in Apple Home or Home Assistant, etc. Sometimes it can be challenging to tell which device is which.

Edited by aidanh (Fri 20-Dec-24 08:57:55)

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

I have several TP-Link Tapo smart switches. I did try to use one for powering my router off and on. It could turn the router off but because the schedule is held on the internet it never turned the router back on.

Yeah, all these WIFI smart devices are Internet smart devices, they are described badly, I dont know if its because non techy people understand it easier that way or it is to deliberately mislead. As essentially if they cannot connect to the net, then they become dumb devices.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

Yeah, all these WIFI smart devices are Internet smart devices, they are described badly, I dont know if its because non techy people understand it easier that way or it is to deliberately mislead.

It is marketing. Customer sees device is 'internet' and thinks "Do I have to connect it with cat5?". Customer sees device is 'wifi' and thinks "No cat5 and I have wifi"

The ironic thing is that WiFi complicates setup. You have to connect to an access point manually and input your WiFi network settings into the app manually, etc. The whole thing becomes a pain to setup. Matter makes this easier which uses Bluetooth for pairing but you still have to manually input your WiFi settings in the app unless it saves them.

ZigBee (and probably its successor Thread, which I've not used yet) makes this onboarding way easier at the expense of needing a hub.