FBI fears hardware backdoors in US military kit
Published: 14 May 2008 14:40 BST
...government contracts allow for several levels of sub-contractors and non-OEM purchases, according to the presentation.
The GSA and Cisco also came in for criticism, with the FBI saying there was little or no vetting of vendors or partners by the organisations. It was "gold" and "silver" Cisco partners who had been selling the counterfeit products to the government, said the FBI.
Cisco on Tuesday admitted that some of its partners had sold counterfeit goods but said the majority of its certified channel partners had not sold counterfeit Cisco products. The company instead blamed the "grey market" of semi-legal deals for most of the problems.
"It is important to note that the grey market and unauthorised channel partners account for the vast majority of the purchase and sale of counterfeit Cisco products," John Donovan, managing director of channels for Cisco UK, told ZDNet.co.uk in an email statement. "We actively and closely monitor our certified channel partners regarding this issue and will take strong measures against violators, [up] to and including decertification of a channel partner."
While admitting the problem in the US, Cisco, at the time of writing, had not said how widespread the problem of counterfeit goods being supplied to government was in the UK and in Europe. However, the FBI has been co-ordinating investigations into counterfeit Cisco products in the UK and Germany, according to the presentation.
Cisco did, however, comment on "Operation Cisco Router" in the US.
"Cisco has been extremely active throughout this collaborative effort with the FBI and other federal law-enforcement agencies from day one," wrote Donovan. "We appreciate the hard work by the FBI in this case, as well as the efforts by all law-enforcement agencies, in cracking down on the counterfeit market. In this instance, we have participated throughout the investigation in all aspects, including executing search warrants, [and] we have proactively briefed high-level individuals across multiple agencies so that they are aware of this ongoing challenge in the IT industry, as well as Cisco's co-operation in this particular investigation."
One of the criticisms levelled by the FBI was that Cisco's brand-protection team, which monitors counterfeiting, did not co-ordinate with Cisco's government-sales team. Cisco had not commented on this criticism at the time of writing, instead saying: "As part of our commitment to the integrity and quality of Cisco technology and services, our brand-protection team maintains an on-going, pro-active and company-wide effort to minimise potential damage to our brand and to our customers as a result of counterfeiting."
Cisco said that buyers of equipment purporting to come from Cisco who are concerned about counterfeit products should look for signs, such as prices that seem too good to be true; equipment without a valid software licence, where applicable, or which does not enclose a Cisco warranty; increased failure rates; and packaging that is not original or appears to have been used before or tampered with.
"If you think something suspicious is going on, we encourage you to contact your nearest Cisco office," said Donovan.
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