Crackdown On Counterfeit Networking Gear 115
angry tapir writes "US agencies targeting the sale of counterfeit networking hardware have gotten 30 felony convictions, including a man attempting to sell fake networking equipment to the US Marine Corps, and seized $143 million worth of fake Cisco hardware. The agencies have conducted Operation Network Raider, which has made 700 separate seizures of networking equipment since 2005, the DOJ said. In addition to the convictions and seizures, nine people are facing trial and another eight defendants are awaiting sentencing."
Good news, I suppose (Score:2, Interesting)
I'll take a stand and say, "meh."
Re:Get em (Score:2, Interesting)
You can only clone them if you're a state backed company like Huawei.
Pesky Chinese Government (Score:0, Interesting)
You don't need to wear a tinfoil hat to worry about the security implications of knockoff networking gear produced by Chinese companies, because that means it's really produced by the Chinese government, and that means they've embedded malware into those devices. For sure. Don't even think twice about it.
Think what you could do if you pwned the switches themselves, before they are even racked and stacked. Scary.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Pesky Chinese Government (Score:0, Interesting)
I'm more worried about the crap the US government insists manufacturers put into equipment than what the Chinese go. Things like artificial restrictions on video outputs for example, never mind stuff in telecom equipment to help them eavesdrop.
happened to us too... (Score:5, Interesting)
I work for an agency under Department of Defense. We just received about $300k worth of fake Cisco stuff. Fortunately the problem was discovered before my podmate certified the vendor's invoice.
Vendor didn't get paid and contracting is still working the issue.
Re:Cisco=Finisar+Cisco tax (Score:2, Interesting)
That's essentially right... and it's a massive tax - something like 2x or more - for which the 'value-add' from Cisco is essentially nothing. If someone figures out how to make non-Cisco full-spec GBICs work in their gear, there should be no reliability penalty at all.
Look up "service unsupported-transceiver". (Score:3, Interesting)
It is possible to get non-Cisco GBICs working on a Cisco switch. It's just difficult to find the correct command to do so.
The command you want is "service unsupported-transceiver".
Cisco - not generic - counterfeit hardware (Score:4, Interesting)
I've seen the counterfeit hardware first hand. Modules for 2600 and 3600 series routers, mostly. That was a few years ago. It was cheap, and nobody at the *cisco partnered CCIE training company* which I will not mention cared. They worked, thats all that mattered.
Its like spam. If people continue to buy from spam adverts, we'll continue to see more spam. If people quit buying, the spammers will eventually move to something else.
They keep selling because it keeps on working.
Re:Good news, I suppose (Score:2, Interesting)
Um... GBICs are not networking gear. They are optical (or copper) connection modules that plug into networking gear.
They are about as much networking gear in themselves as a Cat5 end.
I suppose next we will start seeing a crackdown on genuine Cisco Cat5 plug and fiber MT-RJ connector forgeries?
Cisco, profits and labor (Score:2, Interesting)
What I don't get is why Cisco doesn't task some employees to keep watch 24/7 over those factories where they make this stuff. Make it a condition of the contract that they get full time, go anyplace whenever they want, access. Then they can at least eliminate the same factories making knock offs at night. I guess they save one night shift payroll expense per factory and pass it on to the US tax payer so they can have dozens of federal employees try to stop it, after the fact.
In short, Cisco is sure a buncha hypocritical cheap guys, considering what those things cost, and the US government/tax payer is once again the sucker, with the now common "privatize the profits of Big Inc, but socialize the risks from wallets of the tax payers".
I think the government should just contract directly with the manufacturers and cut Cisco out of the loop. Why not? If it is coming from China anyway, I mean, that's the deal, so who cares then? They are playing make believe it isn't Chinese made because it has a Cisco label on it? These are actual bona fide adults making serious coin, and they play make believe? They could get switches cheaper, contract for support directly from those Chinese manufacturers, and have their own fed employees in there following the runs and inspecting/doing Q and A, and pulling components randomly and bringing them back to look for hidden non contracted for back doors. And it would be tons cheaper, for the same exact gear.
If some corporation wants to get rich by outsourcing, heck with it, buy directly from the outsourced builders instead. Fish or cut bait, we are trading with China or not, y/n? If yes, deal directly with the Chinese for the gear, unless there is an all made in USA quality product as an alternative. The government exists to protect US jobs..or not. They are "worried about security", or not. They can hire cisco cheaper just for new designs, tell them they can get it made themselves, cut them down to their real practical outsourced size. there's no real reason to pay for both the "IP" and then hardware profits, when as has been reported, these units are actually way cheaper when they are non Cisco branded.
Mostly, it looks like "not", and more worried about bloated payrolls for security theater government McJobs and protecting the income of the top 1% of the population, who are globalists anyway and not even close to being loyal or patriotic or anything like that.
All these outsourcers are economic mercenaries, and as such, I dismiss any claims they make of being patriots, etc. they want all the advantages of being in the US, get to live where generations built up the infrastrucutre and the quality of life, but are too cheap and weasly to want to chip in and pay for any of that. then when their precious gets cloned, they want the taxpayers to do their jobs for them, for *free*.
Ta heck with that! They should "police" their IP entirely on their own nickle, same as BP and assorted should pay every penny of the cleanup and losses from this latest oil spill.