Drilling Down on Uncle Sam’s Proposed TP-Link Ban

The U.S. government is reportedly preparing to ban the sale of wireless routers and other networking gear from TP-Link Systems, a company that the piece says currently has an estimated 50% market share among home users and small businesses. According to The Washington Post, U.S. Department of Commerce officials concluded the products pose a risk because they handle sensitive data and because the company remains subject to influence by the Chinese government.

TP-Link Systems disputes these claims, saying it split from the Chinese TP-Link Technologies over the past three years and that its critics overstated its market share, while noting it has headquarters in California and manufactures in Vietnam.

The article also cites a May 2023 Check Point Research blog post about a credentialed firmware implant used by a Chinese state-sponsored group dubbed “Camaro Dragon.” Microsoft’s October 2024 security blog is referenced as tracking a network of compromised TP-Link routers used by multiple Chinese state-sponsored groups since 2021 to conduct password spraying. This entry was posted on 9 November 2025.