What is NDAA? - What is NDAA Compliance vs Certification?
What is NDAA?
In 2019 the US congress passed a law called the H.R.5515 - John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019. Every year congress passes an NDAA law. Because the law addresses issues focused on national defense and security, the law usually passes easily with bipartisan support from our two political parties.
The 2019 NDAA law banned the use of electronic equipment provided by specific companies located in China. What’s interesting about the law is that it bans companies rather than countries (a sure sign of globalism), it ignores boarders and focuses on individual entities.
The 2019 NDAA law bans the use of security equipment from Huawei, Dahua, Hikvision and others for use in federal facilities. The main issue was a video chipset produced by Huawei and globally distributed by Dahua, Hikvison and others. The chipset possesses a remote hidden back door which allows unauthorized entities to access the equipment undetected. Our government’s main concern is this intentionally concealed security breach could be used for spying by the Chinese government.
Who was affected?
The law specifically lists Huawei, Dahua, Hikvision and others, however in 2018 Dahua bought Lorex; a wholesale mass merchant who sells consumer grade security equipment to big box stores, such as Costco, Walmart and more. The law is clear. Because Lorex is owned by Dahua, they too are included in the ban.
The FCC Jumps on Board - October 25th 2021
The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) made it official and voted unanimously to stop the sale of all future products from these companies by denying them new FCC licenses. While the NDAA 2019 law banned these companies from being used in government facilities, this action now makes it illegal for them to sell new products into any US market.
What is NDAA Compliant?
NDAA compliant simply means the equipment is not produced or does not contain components provided by the banned companies. Any item on our site listing our NDAA logo is compliant with the law.
What is NDAA Certified?
Security providers who sell security equipment to the government or to contractors who service the government may be asked to certify that their security systems are NDAA complaint. The equipment supplier is required to provide written certification that the equipment does in fact meet NDAA requirements. This certification places the responsibility of meeting the law squarely on the provider and provides the consumer with written documentation they have met NDAA requirements. This certification is documented using the government provided NDAA-889-Representation Form titled "CONTRACTOR’S CERTIFICATION ON COMPLIANCE WITH NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT (NDAA).
Why we use an NDAA Logo
There is no government approved NDAA logo. The logo we use on our site was created by us and is placed on all products on our site that meet NDAA requirements. This is done so consumers are aware of which items they can consider if NDAA is of concern to them.
Why is Cyber-Secure Series Certified and ProVue Series is not?
While both series are NDAA Compliant, we only provide certification for the Cyber Secure Series. As a business decision we felt duplication of costs and having to pass these costs onto the consumer was redundant and unnecessary.
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