Cisco takes further steps to struggle counterfeit community gear

Trying to counter the rising sophistication of counterfeit networking merchandise, Cisco not too long ago added new layers to guard clients.

“Counterfeiting {hardware} and software program is an unlawful and profitable commerce which results in an estimated $100B lack of income yearly throughout IT industries. As one of many largest and most respected manufacturers on the earth, Cisco is commonly a goal of counterfeiters,” stated Al Palladin, authorized director and  head of World Model Safety at Cisco.

Counterfeiting presents critical dangers to community high quality, efficiency, security, and reliability. It’s harmful as a result of counterfeit merchandise should not designed or constructed to fulfill the identical security commonplace certifications that real Cisco merchandise attain, he stated.

Cisco’s 60-person worldwide brand-protection staff works with legislation enforcement and customs officers to cease counterfeit merchandise at borders, determine counterfeiting operations, and pursue authorized actions in opposition to infringers of Cisco’s mental property rights, together with emblems, Cisco says.

Palladin says there is a rise in quantity and class relating to counterfeit gear and software program. 

“There’s a progress in illicit marketplaces for every type of software program and {hardware}, notably in transceivers,” Palladin stated. 

The excellent news is that there’s extra cooperation with official marketplaces equivalent to Amazon and Alibaba, in addition to higher cooperation from Chinese language legislation enforcement and others, Palladin stated. 

To make counterfeiting Cisco not too long ago added a element it calls Identification Counterfeit Platform—a system of safe labels and different applied sciences equivalent to label scanners designed to detect counterfeit merchandise and thwart pretend product gross sales.

The Identification Counterfeit Platform contains carton safety labels, typically discovered overlapping the sting of the carton’s white label with the Cisco hologram and a brand new printed circuit board meeting holographic safety label. There’s a module-security label, which options safety indicators for optical transceivers and highspeed cable assemblies.

These safety labels on new merchandise bought from Cisco-authorized channels ought to correlate to the transaction date.

“We additionally created a ‘Report Counterfeit Merchandise’ type for purchasers utilizing our anti-counterfeiting methods and really feel that one thing shouldn’t be proper with the labels or gear,”  Palladin stated.  “By way of the shape, clients can escalate any issues instantly with Cisco Model Safety and supply key market intelligence to assist disrupt counterfeiters. The Model Safety staff opinions the experiences every day.”

Counterfeit Cisco gear was within the information over the summer time when safety researchers at F-Safe reported pretend variations of its Catalyst 2960-X Sequence switches have been found on an unnamed enterprise community, and the pretend gear was discovered to be designed to avoid typical authentication procedures. 

F-Safe reported its investigators discovered that whereas the counterfeit Cisco 2960-X models didn’t have backdoors, they did make use of measures to idiot safety controls. For instance, one of many models exploited what F-Safe believes to be a beforehand undiscovered software program vulnerability to undermine secure-boot processes that present safety in opposition to firmware tampering. 

F-Safe included the next recommendation to assist organizations keep away from falling prey to counterfeit units:

• Supply all of your units from approved resellers.
• Have clear inner processes and insurance policies that govern procurement processes.
• Guarantee all units run the most recent out there software program offered by distributors.
• Make be aware of even bodily variations between totally different models of the identical product, irrespective of how delicate they could be.

On the time Cisco acknowledged:

“Sustaining the integrity and top quality of Cisco services is a prime precedence for Cisco. Counterfeit merchandise pose critical dangers to community high quality, efficiency, security, and reliability. To guard our clients, Cisco actively screens the worldwide counterfeit market in addition to implements a holistic and pervasive Worth Chain Safety Structure comprised of assorted safety controls to forestall counterfeiting. Cisco additionally has a Model Safety staff devoted to detecting, deterring, and dismantling counterfeit actions. Combatting widespread counterfeiting and defending mental property rights are sizeable challenges dealing with the complete know-how trade.”