US: FCC Bans Foreign-Made Routers Over National Security Concerns
US: FCC Bans Foreign-Made Routers Over National Security Concerns
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/us-fcc-bans-foreign-made-routers/
Publish Date: 2026-03-25 08:30:00
Source Domain: www.infosecurity-magazine.com
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned the import and sale of all “consumer-grade” internet routers produced in a foreign country, citing “an unacceptable risk” to the national security of the US.
The ban, announced in an FCC public notice on March 23, means that all such routers made in foreign countries – not just a few select Chinese vendors – are now placed on the FCC’s covered list.
The only exceptions include routers that have been granted a conditional approval by the US Department of Defense (DoD) or Department of Homeland Security (DHS). At the time of writing, the list of exceptions only includes drone systems and online surveillance systems.
The agency highlighted that foreign-made routers “were directly implicated” in the Volt, Flax and Salt Typhoon cyber-attacks which targeted critical American communications, energy, transportation and water infrastructure.
Consumer Routers Under Fire
While the public notice sounds like a blanket ban of all foreign-made routers in the US, the FCC specifically banned “consumer-grade routers” as defined in NIST Internal Report 8425A, which refers to ones “intended for residential use and can be installed by the customer.”
Existing Wi-Fi and wired routers currently in use may continue operating without restriction.
Futher, companies that have previously secured FCC radio authorization for specific foreign-manufactured networking equipment are permitted to maintain imports of those approved models.
However, since nearly all consumer-grade routers are produced outside the US, the FCC’s action effectively prohibits the import of the majority of future consumer router models.
Shane Barney, CISO at Keeper Security, warned that focusing solely on country-of-origin risks oversimplifying a much broader security challenge.
“In enterprise environments, routers and network devices are seen not just as connectivity tools, but as high-value control points that sit outside…
