Security News > 2020 > July > Cisco Investigating Report of Vulnerability Found in Counterfeit Switches
Cisco has launched an investigation after researchers at F-Secure analyzed two counterfeit Cisco switches that appeared to exploit a previously unknown vulnerability.
F-Secure's analysis of the fake Cisco switches focused on the security implications of using such fake devices, particularly if the manufacturer attempted to plant any backdoors.
The way the counterfeit equipment was developed suggests that its creator either had access to proprietary engineering documentation from Cisco or they "Invested heavily in the complicated process of replicating the original board design files based solely on genuine boards."
Cisco has warned that counterfeit products pose a serious risk to network quality, performance, safety, and reliability.
"We recommend customers purchase Cisco products from Cisco or through an authorized partner to ensure customers get genuine and authorized Cisco products. To protect our customers, Cisco actively monitors the global counterfeit market as well as implements a holistic and pervasive Value Chain Security Architecture comprised of various security controls to prevent counterfeiting," Cisco told SecurityWeek.