In recent weeks, China Tech Threat’s Roslyn Layton warned shoppers against buying certain gifts during the Holiday season. This week, she visited national retail chains and found Chinese-manufactured consumer products – that feature documented security flaws and vulnerabilities – being sold to customers without any warnings (see video below).
The dangers of using these products that lack necessary security protections are further compounded by Chinese law.
“A lot of these products are actually dangerous in terms of being built with vulnerabilities and what’s called backdoors that can get your personal information and be used to compromise your safety, whether it is hacking into your financial records, whether it’s tracking your movements, whether it’s being used to access larger databases at your place of work,” said Dr. Layton. Additionally, “in 2017, China created a National Intelligence Law, which requires that any Chinese subject or any Chinese company needs to submit the information that were collected on these products to the government.
Specifically, DJI drones, Lenovo laptops and TCL smart televisions were just some of the products readily available to purchase. These companies’ products have been flagged, sanctioned or banned by U.S. government agencies over the last decade. Despite these facts being public knowledge, too many remain unaware of the risks of buying and using these products. More direct warnings to consumers are needed to convey the threats of Chinese technology. Additionally, as we have emphasized over the past year, security is worth paying for.
“Just because you see something on the shelf with a low price doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a safe product,” warned Dr. Layton.