[c-nsp] Fake Cisco Equipment News Articles - very interesting

[Peter Rathlev]

This thread probably covers an interesting subject, but in my eyes it's
too political to be on topic. Am I wrong to think that the discussion
should move to somewhere else?

Regards,
Peter

On Tue, 2008-05-13 at 08:34 -0400, Scott McGrath wrote:
> I have some experience with the counterfeit stuff as well. 
> 
> Purchased CWDM SFP's from a Cisco platinum partner - they failed the 
> validity check they looked good came in cisco packaging with all the 
> seals documentation etc.   It's just they were fake turns out 
> distributors use the 'spot' market to get product they don't have in 
> stock and is not available from Cisco at that moment in time and that's 
> how fake stuff enters the distribution channel.   Purchasing agents only 
> care about getting X units for Y dollars landed on the dock and the 
> receivers just have time for a cursory check 'Hey it has Cisco logos on 
> the box'.
> 
> Also the counterfeiters are moving up the food chain there is now 
> counterfeit Catalyst 4500 stuff out there and that is much more of a 
> threat than a WIC or SFP as well as counterfeit 26xx and 36xx routers 
> which are used EVERYWHERE by everyone including the Fed's.
> 
> But this is one of the risks which occur when you outsource your supply 
> chain and the chinese are not necessarily our friends they agreed to do 
> manufacturing in exchange for the production technology.    Just ask 
> Schwinn, Chrysler and Audi how well that worked out for them.   Cisco at 
> some point will be competing against it's own technology without the 
> 'Cisco Tax'   Recall the 26xx clones from Huawei they even ran the 
> current IOS!
> 
> 
> 
> Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
> >   
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net
> >> [mailto:cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net]On Behalf Of Skeeve Stevens
> >> Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 9:30 AM
> >> To: isp-australia at isp-australia.com
> >> Cc: ausnog at ausnog.net; aussie-isp at taz.net.au; cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net;
> >> 2600-list at wiretapped.net
> >> Subject: [c-nsp] Fake Cisco Equipment News Articles - very interesting
> >>
> >>
> >> This is an article which should be VERY interesting to ALL ISP's and
> >> businesses using Cisco equipment.
> >>
> >>     
> >
> > After the initial reaction of laughing, I have this to say about it.
> >
> > It is clearly rediculous that Chinese crackers are going to steal
> > national security secrets by using counterfeit WIC-1DSU-T1 cards.
> > I think the majority of counterfeit gear they picked up was probably
> > along those lines.
> >
> > It is a bit more of a national security concern when the counterfeit
> > gear is firewalls.
> >
> > I also am somewhat neutral on the issue of the government buying
> > Cisco routers for $250 that normally sold for $2500, which was also
> > metioned in the article.  On one hand I don't like to see my tax dollars
> > enriching some Chinese criminals pocket, on the other hand I would
> > rather not have my taxes go up 90% to pay full price.
> >
> > I am mostly concerned with the following, however:
> >
> > 1) Purchase of networking equipment on credit cards rather than through
> > the authorized government purchasing system.
> >
> > 2) Counterfeit gear getting into the government offices through the
> > regular distributors.
> >
> > In case #1, that is clearly the case of network admins getting denied
> > approval for a project and saying "fuck you" and going ahead with it
> > anyway.  While I'm sure lots of people can relate stories of dumb
> > government decisions that required people to make end-runs around them,
> > (ie: the $500 hammer, $2000 toilet seat, etc.) the fact is that we
> > know about those stories precisely because the people in the government
> > who were forced to go through some overcharging scamming vendor,
> > complained to the press about it, rather than secretly slipping some
> > hammer purchases though on a personal expense report.  I don't want
> > my civil servants making an end run around some beaurucrat that has
> > his head up his ass, with a credit card and Ebay.  I want them going
> > to the press so the resultant citizen outrage gets the anally-inserted
> > beaurucrat fired, or promoted into a harmless little office where
> > he supervises staplers (which is how the government usually deal with
> > embarassingly incompetent civil servants) 
> >
> > In case #2, the middlemen/distributors/etc. that the government normally
> > is buying from are selling Chinese counterfeit stuff for full price.
> > Thus, they are buying the counterfeit gear for pennies and selling it
> > for millions, and making a killing doing so.  Well, the FBI discovered it,
> > where are the stories of such distributors getting arrested for fraud?
> >
> > All in all, a very disturbing article.  Not about the counterfeiting -
> > we all know it happens.  But the fact that the stuff got into the
> > government networks in the first place.
> >
> > Ted
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