Counterfeiters Amping Up Their Game

Counterfeit parts have been a part of the electronics supply chain for decades – a stealthy, unwanted party crasher that costs the industry untold billions each year. With government estimates that counterfeit semiconductors and other electronic parts make up approximately 15 percent of the Department of Defense supply chain, the issue – and the fight against it — has been top of mind for decades.

I think I probably experienced my first counterfeit parts around 1997 — without even realizing what they were. I was working for a company, sending out a kit of parts assembled into a circuit board, and we had a whole slew of failures of this one particular part. At that time, we attributed it to a bad manufacturing date code. We got replacement parts from another distributor, moved on; and for at least a year after that, every time I ordered that part, I excluded that specific date code. Fast forward a decade, when I learned more about counterfeits, I realized those parts were probably not a bad date code, they were probably counterfeit.

Counterfeits get scarier

Today, the counterfeit game has leveled up. In addition to the physical/traditional approaches to counterfeiting – your black topping, remarking or reusing used parts — criminals have found new ways to scam prospective clients. Recently though, I’ve heard of instances where criminals are embedding “trojan codes” into FPGAs or memory components, which is something we can’t test for. We really can’t detect these codes, and quite frankly, the majority of testing that’s done on a part for counterfeit mitigation is in that physical realm, whether it’s through microscopy, or looking at the die via X-ray. And, those tests won’t catch these Trojans. So with this new threat, we really have to ensure you’re sticking with known good supply sources through authorized distribution and direct from factory purchases.

We’re currently in a supply squeeze right now, so parts can be hard to find – I understand that. Still, no one wants a counterfeit situation on their hands. Here are some factors to consider with counterfeit mitigation. It starts way back into the beginning of the process with the purchasing team and your vendor management system, and making sure the parts you select are early in the product lifecycle and abundant. If that’s not the case and you have a scenario where you’re an OEM and some of the parts you need are end of life, here are a few potential red flags:

• Starting with a supplier who doesn’t have a contractual arrangement with the original manufacturer.
• What does their marketplace reputation look like? What trade organizations do they belong to (ECIA, for example)?
• What has been your overall experience with them in the past?

Not every unauthorized supplier is a bad one. It just increases your risk. And, if you’ve decided the risk is worth it, your quality control team can take steps as well. They can get information directly from the manufacturer on what these parts should look like — how they are packaged, labeled; on a tape and reel, etc.? Do they have traceability all the way back to the original manufacturer? When you’re purchasing outside of authorized distribution, that sort of traceability is very, very difficult or impossible to get.

Quality begets quality

Ultimately, the search is in your own hands. Start with authorized distributors to find the parts you need. If you strike out, and you can’t find any authorized distributor lines, then go through only those independent distributors that you have a history with; use the ones you trust. And the most important thing I’d like to note: I’d like people to realize that sometimes the parts they need are just not available – and it’s no one’s fault. And, when you’re in the heat of that moment, temptation can be strong – but I would stress: it’s ultimately not worth it to roll the dice on your products; your brand and company name on an unverified source in a desperate moment.

To read the article on EPSNews.com, click here: https://epsnews.com/2022/02/16/counterfeiters-amping-up-their-game/