Consumer Alert - Dahua Warning
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announces it has adopted new rules prohibiting communications equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security from being authorized for importation or sale in the U.S. Dahua is among the China-based companies cited in the ban. Nov 28, 2022
Few security dealers and CCTV distributors
are talking about the FCC ban on Dahua, why?
US distributors and security dealers are quietly blowing out their inventories of Dahua equipment for a reason. But the "incredible deals" on Dahua cameras and equipment may come with a high price in the end. Security distributors and dealers are motivated to liquidate their inventory before the general public understands what the FCC ban means.
The FCC ban means no new electronic equipment produced by Dahua will be granted an FCC license, which makes new equipment from Dahua illegal to be used in the United States. Current licensed equipment can still be sold until the equipment is phased out of production. This is what causes a "Trap" for consumers.
An uninformed consumer is likely to jump on the unusually low prices. But hold up! Just how long do you expect to have support for Dahua equipment? Because the US is now a dead market for Dahua, they will provide existing models until they are phased out of production, the normal migration of the electronic component industry will force the older models out of production within a year or two tops.
This means all those Dahua systems installed across this country are now frozen in time. Maintenance of the systems is the only option, well that and replacing. The risk with maintaining the system is guessing how long Dahua can make a profit supporting the current systems. Once it is not profitable to support current systems, Dahua will abandon the US customers. What do they have to loose? Their reputation is already toast in the US market.
There is one more concern consumers should consider, the reason Dahua was banned - NDAA Law. Hidden backdoors were found in the equipment, a serious security breach intentionally built-in to a foreign manufactured product that is being sold into the USA security market. If this does not concern you, you do not understand the risks.
Advanced AI (Artificial Intelligence) can literally track a library of faces and identify a person from one security camera location to another, even if the the camera is not on the same system or in the same state. Dahua has sold millions of these compromised cameras into the US market. A network of compromised cameras matched with advanced AI can track the movement of a person from the coffee shop, to a hotel, to work, to home. The potential is a national surveillance system build by a foreign government and installed by an unknowing US consumer. The possibility of tracking key political and military VIPs by a foreign government who has access to the compromised equipment is real, the technology is proven and reliable.
Dahua Replacement Options
We'll start with the good news. All the existing cabling and network structure can be used. PoE units are not compromised and can be used as well, replacement cameras can use the same Cat5 or Cat6 cable you have in place. You simply replace the cameras, video recorder, download a new app onto your smart devices and you have successfully migrated to a new secure NDAA compliant system. This approach is recommended, but if your budget does not allow for complete replacement you can migrate your system away from Dahua overtime.
Migrating your system overtime is more complicated. It's key to first replace the NVR (Network Video Recorder) with an NDAA compliant unit that can support Dahua cameras. It is important to verify the unit will support Dahua cameras, just because two items are ONVIF compliant does not mean all the supporting features are compatible with each other.
Once the NVR is replaced you can now selectively, overtime, replace the cameras as they fail. Because the compromised video chips were used in both cameras and NVRs, your system will still be compromised until the last Dahua camera is replaced.
We are Dahua Replacement Experts!
Both our ProVue Series and Cyber Secure Series are NDAA compliant. They are the affordable replacement options. If you would like specific advice on how to migrate your system way from Dahua, give us a call or schedule a free consultation below. Our design experts have over 60 years of combined experience. Designing an effective security solution requires expertise. We have that expertise, and can suggest cost effective options to replace your Dahua equipment.
About Dahua
Dahua has become one of China’s leading consumer electronics brands over the last decade. The company was founded in 2001 and now sells a wide range of CCTV security products, cameras, televisions, and other devices.
Dahua is headquartered in Beijing and employs nearly 100,000 workers across its global operations. Its headquarters are located in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, and it operates manufacturing facilities in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu, Changsha, Shanghai, Qingdao, Chongqing, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Xiamen, Foshan, Kunming, Haikou, Guiyang, Ningbo, Hefei, Dalian, and Hong Kong.
As a Chinese brand, Dahua has had great success in the domestic market. They have been a substantial player in the US security market by branding their equipment Lorex and underpricing US suppliers since 2017.
2019 NDAA ban.