The FBI revealed that the U.S. government has unknowingly bought counterfeit networking parts from China. Authorities have uncovered so far about 3,500 bogus devices with a retail value of $3.5 million. However, Reuters reports that an official source told them the parts did not make government databases unsecure.

FBI acknowledged that it conducted Operation Cisco Raider, a criminal probe which sought to find, primarily, whether an additional security risk exists in relation with the counterfeit hardware. The probe was leaked to the public when an FBI slide presentation detailing the operation showed up on the web.

"At the request of another federal government agency, on Jan. 11, 2008, the FBI's Cyber Division provided an unclassified PowerPoint presentation and briefing on efforts to counter the production and distribution of counterfeit network hardware," James Finch, assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, said in a statement.

"This unclassified briefing was never intended for broad distribution or posting to the Internet," Finch said.

The bogus parts allegedly included pirated versions of Cisco Systems routers, switches, interface converters and wide area network interface cards (WAN adapters). The operation involved 15 investigations at nine FBI field offices and the execution of 39 search warrants, according to the FBI. It's unclear whether any arrests were made.

Cisco Systems, Inc. sells its products and services under five brands, namely Cisco, Linksys, WebEx, IronPort, and Scientific Atlanta. Its professional routers and switches are branded Cisco and use the Cisco IOS operating system.