Chinese OEM Avycon Gets ADI Push

"Milesight but still very rarely hear about them" - that's a shame. I was hoping they would succeed in the US. They deserve it. I love their hardware.

#7, good feedback, informative!

It's interesting to point out that IPVM is talking about Avyon though. Real small player compared to big boys like Hik, Dahua, and etc.

Lol, it was definitely the ADI promotions for Avycon. It is a testament to ADI's power.

"Exactly, Why would ADI go direct with TVT? Because it's cheaper? But what about added cost of offering their own Techsupport, Warranty and possibility of getting sued if something goes wrong?

Passing this onto to so called manufacturer "Avycon" is wiser choice in my opinion from ADI."

So, you are saying that 'the infrastucture' of just FOUR people at Avycon can handle all the back-end inherent to being a national supplier to ADI?

Not to mention - those same FOUR people have to also handle all the front-end stuff and run around the U.S. attending ADI expos?.

Seems implausible.

I think much of it comes down to how you interpret the purpose of the ban.

My interpretation is that it is centered around cyber security, and concerns that the products could be used at some point for any kind of cyber attack (eg: internal network infiltration, external DDoS botnet, etc.).

There are two core risks with Chinese cameras, if you are of a similar mindset:

1) Firmware developed in China, running general device functions, which could contain any kind of malware

2) Firmware developed in China, running internally on the SoC (eg: Huawei/HiSilicon parts).

Item #1 is *somewhat* manageable via firmware decryption/decompilation and review or analysis.

Item #2 is effectively impossible to fully analyze, as the code is in the chip, and generally not delivered via firmware upgrades or external files that can be independently analyzed in any way.

Even though Item #1 is technically able to be analyzed, vendors makes it difficult to do so (for both legitimate, and illegitimate purposes, IMO). Hikvision's "firmware lab" is an attempt to address Item #1, though they put the onus fully on the analyst to do this and it is somewhat analogous to an easter egg hunt in a swamp, at night.

The easy, and prudent, choice is to avoid cameras with Chinese SoC's (this would mostly be Huawei, but there are likely some other smaller players), regardless of point of manufacture. Technically, a camera with firmware developed in the US, and manufactured in the US, but with a Huawei SoC that also handles network communications, could pose a high cyber security risk.