House Committee Urges Probe of Chinese Wifi Router Company Over Security Concerns

Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), chair and ranking member of the House Select Committee on China, are urging the federal government to launch a probe into China’s TP-Link Technology Co and its affiliates over concerns about cyber attacks on the United States, calling it a “glaring national security issue.”
The lawmakers requested a response by Aug. 30 and asked the department to take action if an investigation reveals national security issues.
The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Epoch Times.
“Pursuant to the PRC’s increasingly draconian data protectionist and national security-focused legal regime, companies like TP-Link are required to provide data to the PRC government and otherwise comply with the demands of its national security apparatus,” the letter reads. PRC is an acronym for the nation ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the People’s Republic of China.
TP-Link did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Epoch Times. The Chinese Embassy said it hoped that authorities would “have enough evidence when identifying cyber-related incidents” and called the allegations groundless.
The lawmakers’ request comes on the heels of mounting national security concerns over CCP cyber espionage.
“TP-Link’s unusual degree of vulnerabilities and required compliance with PRC law are in and of themselves disconcerting,” Krishnamoorthi and Moolenaar’s letter continued.
“When combined with the PRC government’s common use of SOHO routers like TP-Link to perpetrate extensive cyberattacks in the United States, it becomes significantly alarming.”