Surveillance Cameras
Sourcing Guide & Market Intelligence

Elevated Tariffs are increasing prices for law enforcement, security, and safety equipment

• The Trump administration’s reciprocal tariffs, which place broad tariffs on all imports from most US trade partners, are set to take effect on August 7 after the tariff rates were finalized on August 1.
• As a result, all foreign suppliers in law enforcement, security, and safety equipment will face significantly increased costs when selling products to US buyers, and domestic manufacturers of these goods will face higher costs when sourcing key inputs for these products.
• Countries such as China, Germany, Mexico, Thailand, and Vietnam are leading sources of imports in this sector, providing high quantities of goods such as safes, locks, security cameras, security systems, and personal protective equipment. Starting August 7, imports from China, Germany, Mexico, Thailand, and Vietnam will be subject to tariff rates of 54.0%, 15.0%, 25.0%, 20.0%, and 19.0% respectively.
• Elevated tariffs are likely to impact pricing and supply chains in this industry due to the United States’ reliance on imported manufactured goods, which gives foreign suppliers the leverage to pass through the costs of tariffs to buyers and domestic suppliers the leverage to raise prices.
• Consequently, the Yale Budget Lab projects a 39.2% average increase in metal product prices, impacting products such as security gates and safes. Electronic security devices, such as cameras or metal detectors, are projected to rise by 18.7% in price. In the personal protective equipment market, prices are forecast to rise by between 11.0% and 37.5%, depending on the type of equipment and materials used to make it.

The FBI has warned that Chinese government hackers could disrupt critical infrastructure in the United States in the event of a conflict with China.

• The FBI announced on January 31 that it had thwarted an attempt by the Chinese government hacking group “Volt Typhoon” to plant malware onto electric power, water treatment and transportation systems in the United States using compromised end-of-life small office/home office (SOHO) routers from Cisco and Netgear. End-of-life devices have been discontinued by manufacturers and no longer receive software patches to eliminate vulnerabilities, which makes these devices attractive targets for hackers.
• US officials assess that China might disrupt critical US infrastructure to prevent the United States from responding to a Chinese attack on Taiwan. Volt Typhoon has been particularly active in Hawaii and Guam, which house some of the largest US military and naval installations in the Pacific.
• The FBI announced on September 18 that it had disrupted a botnet from another Chinese government hacking group known as “Flax Typhoon”. Flax Typhoon had infected 260,000 networking devices around the world, including SOHO routers, internet protocol (IP) cameras, digital video recorders (DVRs), and network-attached storage (NAS) devices.n
• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recommends that organizations use its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog to identify any vulnerabilities in their systems. Furthermore, organizations can subscribe to receive KEV Catalog updates from the agency and may contact the agency for advice.

The EU finalizes the Cyber Resilience Act

• On September 15, 2022, the EU proposed the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), which aims to increase the focus on cybersecurity throughout the development lifecycle of digital products, protecting consumers and businesses from increasingly dangerous cyber threats.
• Other objectives include creating a coherent cybersecurity framework for producers to comply with, creating an obligation to secure products for the entire lifecycle of the products, as well as increasing the visibility of security properties in digital products.
• The goal of the Act is to ultimately create hardware and software products that are more secure against cyberattacks. Fines can reach up to a maximum of €15 million or 2.5% of global turnover, whichever is the higher of the two.
• On November 30, 2023, The European Commission, Council, and Parliament came to an agreement on the text of the Cyber Resilience Act and formally adopted the act on March 12, 2024.
• The CRA will be rolled out through a phased transition plan during the second half of 2024. The majority of the provisions will be enforceable in 2027, three years after publication.