US considers banning TP-Link routers over cybersecurity risks

U.S. agencies are investigating TP-Link after reports that a large botnet of compromised SOHO routers—predominantly TP-Link devices and tracked by Microsoft as Quad7/CovertNetwork-1658/xlogin—has been used by Chinese threat actors to perform password-spray operations and steal credentials, enabling further network exploitation; the probe has prompted subpoenas and consideration of bans given TP-Link's dominant U.S. market presence and device use in government networks.