US Nuclear Lab Removes Chinese Tech

Rambo Tribble writes "Reuters reports that Los Almos National Laboratory has removed switches produced by Chinese firm H3C, which once had ties to Huawei. This appears to be a step taken to placate a nervous Congress, rather in response to any detected security issues. From the article: 'Switches are used to manage data traffic on computer networks. The exact number of Chinese-made switches installed at Los Alamos, how or when they were acquired, and whether they were placed in sensitive systems or pose any security risks, remains unclear. The laboratory - where the first atomic bomb was designed - is responsible for maintaining America's arsenal of nuclear weapons. A spokesman for the Los Alamos lab referred inquiries to the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA, which declined to comment.'"

Comments

Re:What's the replacement going to be?

[Anonymous Coward]

Good thought, but check out the GarrettCom backdoor that was discovered by a curious researcher in 2012:

http://www.us-cert.gov/control_systems/pdf/ICSA-12-243-01.pdf

Looks like in some cases the 'american company' is worse! And why did it take this researcher named in the advisory to dicsover it? Why didn't any of the major corporations or government agencies who rely on this equipment discover it?

Re:What's the replacement going to be?

[kelemvor4]

Cisco switches are manufactured in China since 2011 per this press release: http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?articleId=442243