The presentation of a TP-Link Wi-Fi router by Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois to Congress was one of the rare displays that highlighted increasing national security concerns on March 5. As a result of the congressman's stark warning — "Don't use this" — he sounded an alarm that the use of this network would carry significant security risks. His stark warning — "Don't use this" — immediately brought to mind the issue of potential vulnerabilities resulting from the use of foreign-made networking devices that may not have been adequately tested.
The United States Representative Krishnamoorthi has been advocating for a ban on the sale and distribution of TP-Link routers across the nation for several months. His stance comes from an investigation that indicates that these devices may have been involved in state-sponsored cyber intrusions from China in 2023. There is increasing apprehension concerning the matter, and several federal agencies, including the Departments of Commerce, Defence, and Justice, have begun to conduct formal inquiries into the matter in the coming months.
As federal agencies investigate the potential security risks associated with TP-Link's operations, one of the largest providers of consumer networking devices in the United States is currently being subjected to greater scrutiny. Though there is no doubt that the company is widely used in American households and businesses, there have been fears that regulators might take action against it over its alleged ties to mainland Chinese entities.
This was a matter that was reported in December by The Wall Street Journal. It is reported that the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defence, and Justice are investigating the matter, but there has not been conclusive evidence to indicate that intentional misconduct has occurred. In light of these developments, TP-Link's American management has clarified the company's organizational structure and operational independence as a result of these developments.
The President of TP-Link USA, Jeff Barney, stated in a recent statement to WIRED that the American division operates as a separate and autonomous entity. According to Barney, TP-Link USA is a U.S.-based company. He asserted that the company has no connection with TP-Link Technologies, its counterpart operating in mainland China.
In addition, he also emphasised that the company was capable of demonstrating its operational and legal separation, as well as that it was committed to adhering to ensuring compliance with U.S. regulatory requirements.
This increased scrutiny comes as a result of a bipartisan effort led by Representative Krishnamoorthi and Representative John Moolenaar of Michigan, who are currently working as representatives of the state of Michigan. According to the Wall Street Journal, federal authorities are seriously considering banning TP-Link routers.
It is believed that the two lawmakers jointly submitted a formal request to the Department of Commerce in the summer of 2024, calling for immediate regulatory action because of the national security implications it might have.
This incident has intensified the discussion surrounding the security of consumer networking devices and the broader consequences of relying on foreign technology infrastructure, while federal investigations are ongoing.
There has recently been an appointment at TP-Link for Adam Robertson to become its new head of cybersecurity, a strategic move that underscores the company's commitment to ensuring the safety of consumers as well as enterprises.
A 17-year industry veteran, he has been in executive leadership roles at firms like Reliance, Inc. and Incipio Group for the past eight years. In addition to playing an important role in advancing the company's cybersecurity initiatives, Robertson also has experience with Incipio Group and TP-Link's global headquarters in Irvine, California.
From his base at TP-Link's global headquarters, he is responsible for overseeing TP-Link's security operations across a wide range of networking and smart home products.
In the past year, company executives have expressed strong confidence in Robertson's ability to drive significant change within the organisation.
Jeff Barney, President of TP-Link USA, described Robertson's appointment as a timely and strategic addition to the organisation. He commented that Robertson's technical execution skills, as well as strategic planning skills, are in line with TP-Link's long-term innovation goals, which are centred upon innovation.
With Robertson as the leader of the company, he is expected to help create a robust security culture within the company and help set more stringent industry standards for product integrity as well as consumer protection.
Additionally, Robertson expressed enthusiasm for the organisation and his determination to contribute to its mission to advance secure, accessible technology by joining and contributing.
It was his commitment to TP-Link to build on its strong foundation in cybersecurity to ensure that the brand will continue to be regarded as a trusted name in the global technology industry as a whole. As a result of the potential for it to be categorised as critical, a new security flaw, referred to as CVE-2023-1389, has raised considerable concern within the cybersecurity community.
It is a vulnerability in TP-Link routers, called the Archer AX-21 router, that results from an inadequate input validation within the device's web-based management interface that leads to the vulnerability. By leveraging this weakness, malicious actors can craft specific HTTP requests that result in the execution of arbitrary commands with root privileges. As of right now, the Ballista botnet, an extremely sophisticated and rapidly evolving threat, is exploiting this vulnerability.
It can, by exploiting this vulnerability, infect and propagate across vulnerable devices on the Internet autonomously, enabling it to recruit these devices in large-scale Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. There is still a risk of exploitation for router firmware versions before 1.1.4 Build 202330219, according to cybersecurity analysts. The fact that this threat is capable of operating at a large scale makes it especially alarming.
Due to its popularity among both consumers and businesses, the Archer AXE-21 has become a popular target for threat actors. As a result of several manufacturers in both the United States and Australia already being affected by this issue, there is a pressing need for mitigation. To prevent further compromise, experts stress immediate firmware updates and network security measures.
As a result of the widespread use of this vulnerability, many previous botnet operations have exploited this vulnerability, further increasing the concerns surrounding its ongoing abuse.
Multiple cybersecurity reports, including coverage by TechRadar Pro, have documented several threat actor groups utilising this particular vulnerability, among them the notorious Mirai botnet that has been operating for over 10 years.
In both 2023 and 2024, activity surrounding this vulnerability was observed, which indicates that it has continued to attract malicious operators for years to come.
Cato Networks researchers have identified an attack that occurs when an attacker deploys a Bash script to drop the malware onto a targeted system using the payload dropper function. This script is used to initiate the compromise by acting as a payload dropper for malicious code.
During Cato's analysis, the botnet operators appeared to change their behaviour as the campaign progressed, moving to Tor-based domains, perhaps in response to increased cybersecurity professionals' attention.
As soon as the malware has been executed, it establishes a secure TLS-encrypted C2 channel via port 82 that can be used for command-and-control (C2) purposes.
Through the use of this channel, threat actors can take complete control of the compromised device remotely, enabling shell commands to be executed, remote code execution to be performed, and denial-of-service (Dos) attacks to be launched. This malware also has the capability of extracting sensitive data from the affected systems. This adds an exfiltration component to the malware's capabilities, giving it a significant amount of capability.
As far as attribution is concerned, Cato Networks said it was reasonably confident that the operators behind the Ballista botnet are based in Italy, citing IP addresses that came from the region and Italian language strings embedded within the malware's binary. As a result of these indicators, the malware campaign was named "Ballista", and this is a result of those indicators.
Several critical industries are the primary targets of the botnet, including manufacturing, healthcare, professional services, and technology. Its primary activity has been recorded in the United States, Australia, China, and Mexico, with noteworthy activity being observed there. It has been estimated that over 6,000 internet-connected devices are vulnerable, which means that the attack surface remains extensive as well as that the threat is still present.
