RSSFBI bought $3.5 million in counterfeit networking parts
By Ed Oswald | Published May 12, 2008, 11:55 AM
The FBI recently discovered it had been duped into buying about 3,500 parts that were not genuine Cisco products.
Among the fake parts purchased were routers, switches, interface converters, and WAN cards. There was some concern initially that these parts could pose a potential security risk, allowing hackers access to sensitive data.
Those concerns were later alleviated when further research showed that there was no reason to believe the components put computer systems at risk, sources told Reuters on Friday.
FBI officials apparently never intended to make the issue public -- discovery of the existence of any investigation only came recently when a FBI slide presentation made it onto the website abovetopsecret.com
When asked about the document, officials confirmed that the investigation had spanned across nine of the agencys federal offices.
The parts were manufactured in China, although the US procured them through several different resellers in the United States, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain. Other parts were reportedly purchased from eBay.
Counterfeiting of Cisco parts is a large scale affair: approximately 400 seizures have taken place worldwide with a value of about $76 million.
This country is run by people who grew up in the 60's, what do you expect?
The biggest idiot of all is the leader of the free world.
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|Wait until Obama gets in. Bush'll look like a genius.
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|*laughs*
Hopefully he'll just sit up there and pretend to be president for a few years.
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|I'll say "Only in America" now, while I can, before the UK Government is found to have done the same.
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|Yup, I'm pretty sure noone else in the world is the target of counterfeit goods. Dur
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|What a perfect case for Fox Mulder! :-D
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|eBay ???
the FBI purchases equipment on eBay ??
their hardware and components must be light years ahead
on what's available to mainstream consumers
i better go to craigslist and try to catch up
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|It is truly frightening when the FBI is purchasing items from eBay.
Wow.
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|Well, ok so they buy things on eBay.
On the other hand at least they are shopping around and not getting rapped by GSA schedule.
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|Maybe the FBI should take people off of the MPAA cases and start coving there own asses.. Plus why don't they buy direct from cisco. Most large companies do and get 20-40% below retail..
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|I don't know how things have changed in recent years, but I have a close friend who was a federal contract negotiator for many years. As best as I remember, contracts were put out and bids were placed only through approved vendors. While there was no such thing as eBay at that time, I could not have imagined him sitting and bidding on parts for the federal government on eBay.
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|Your right.. I show hope the people who purchased this crap. (on behalf of the tax payer) gets his\her a** canned!!
And if they purchased from an approved vendor then a FULL refund would be in order along with the removal of them as a vendor..
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|Kind of makes you wonder if they run counterfeit copies of Windows, doesn't it??
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|Who needs Al Qeada? We do a fine job of ruining our own country.
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|"There was some concern initially that these parts could pose a potential security risk, allowing hackers access to sensitive data.
Those concerns were later alleviated when further research showed that there was no reason to believe the components put computer systems at risk, sources told Reuters on Friday."
A potentially neat trick...But first the aforementioned equipment needs to work!
Way to go you Bozos!
Let's see...any word as to whether they were swooft enough to identify and to act to stop the perpetrators? Or would that be asking a bit too much of such an erudite group?
At least its reassuring that the FBI has taken upon itself to inadvertently purchase ~5% of the world's supply of counterfeit Cisco components!
...An altruistic measure (I'm sure!) that just Might suggest that their purchasing/procurement process just Might deserve examination!
All that remains is for the FBI to give the idiots a promotion and a raise in this Peter Principle Scrapbook.
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|That was one of the most nonsensical posts I've ever seen. Stringing nice-sounding words together without any meaning do not a good comment make.
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|quote
At least its reassuring that the FBI has taken upon itself to inadvertently purchase ~5% of the world's supply of counterfeit Cisco components!
/quote
Actually, read again... 400 seizures worth 76 million, not 76 million as the total amount. More interesting would be the time period in which those seizures have happened... is that 76 million in the past year? 76 million since Cisco first became a company? 76 million this year so far?
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