American Paranoia! US Government Claims Unregistered Radio Equipment Found in Inverters Made Abroad, Calls for Scanning of Solar Highway Infrastructure

US officials said that solar highway infrastructure, including charging stations, roadside weather stations, and traffic cameras, should be scanned to find malicious devices hidden in batteries and inverters - such as hidden radio equipment. The US Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration issued this warning at the end of last month, amid the escalating actions by the Trump administration against Chinese technology existing in US transportation infrastructure.

Reuters reviewed a four-page copy of the security notice, which stated that unregistered cellular radio equipment was found in "certain foreign-made power inverters and battery management systems (BMS)." This notice had never been reported before and did not specify where the products containing unregistered equipment were imported from, but many inverters are made in China.

US officials are increasingly concerned that these devices and electronic systems managing charging batteries may have malicious communication components implanted, which could be remotely tampered with according to instructions.

In May this year, Reuters reported that US energy officials were concerned after experts discovered communication devices in some inverters and batteries. Later that month, the industry organization "Green Power Denmark" claimed that unspecified electronic components were found in imported equipment in Denmark's energy supply network.

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) referred the issue to the US Department of Transportation. The latter stated in a statement that the alert "summarized public and non-classified reports to ensure agencies are implementing practical mitigation measures for transportation operators." The US Department of Transportation will refer further questions back to CISA.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1842892602475531/

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