Daily Mail: US officials say Chinese military spies infiltrated 30 American companies including Apple and Amazon by secretly embedding rice-sized computer chips onto server motherboards
* The attack is said to have happened in 2015 and targeted customers of Super Micro Computer Inc, the country's largest server supplier
* Unnamed sources tell Bloomberg that Chinese spies from the People's Liberation Army designed the tiny chips
* They infiltrated subcontractor factories where the Supermicro servers were being built and slipped the chips onto the motherboards, it is claimed
* The servers then made their way into Apple data centers worldwide and Amazon's Web Services data centers in Beijing, officials say
* The chips opened the door for Chinese hackers to rewrite server code and enable them to harvest data
* Amazon and Apple both discovered the breach in the first half of 2015, insiders say
* The companies both severed ties with Supermicro afterwards for reasons they say are unrelated reasons
* No data was actually stolen but they goal was to steal consumer and government data over a long period of time
* Both Amazon, Apple and Supermicro strongly refute the story
US officials have shared details of a widespread hardware hack which saw Chinese spies infiltrate 30 American companies, including Amazon and Apple, in 2015 by planting rice-sized computer chips onto their server motherboards which gave hackers access to sensitive consumer and government data.
The unnamed officials detailed the astonishing breach for the first time publicly in an expose by Bloomberg Businessweek on Thursday.
Amazon, Apple and Super Micro Computer Inc, the motherboard manufacturer which the officials say was compromised, all deny it officially but unnamed workers from both Apple and Amazon confirmed details of the hack, and how they dumped Supermicro afterwards.
Chinese officials also denied the attack.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The circus of the Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination is sucking all the oxygen in this news cycle, but this Chinese spy story is huge. These U.S. companies handle almost all of America's data, and this Chinese attempt to take it must be addressed by the U.S. government. Everyone is (of course) denying this, but Bloomberg that broke this story is claiming that multiple sources have confirmed it. Their reporting is below:
The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies -- Bloomberg
The Big Hack: Inside the Chinese Cyberspies’ Bag of Tech Tricks -- Bloomberg
More News On Chinese Spies Infiltrating 30 Major American Companies Including Apple And Amazon To Embed Spy Chips On Their Server Boards
'China spy attack hits Apple and Amazon' -- BBC
China planted chips in Apple and Amazon servers, report claims -- The Guardian
Amazon and Apple were reportedly targeted by Chinese spies attempting to plant tiny microchips in their data centers -- Business Insider
Chinese spies reportedly inserted microchips into servers used by Apple, Amazon, and others -- The Verge
Chinese spying microchips found in Apple, Amazon computers: report -- FOX News
Report: Chinese Spies Infected Apple, Amazon Using Tiny Chips -- PC Mag
Chinese spy chips are found in hardware used by Apple, Amazon, Bloomberg says; Apple, AWS say no way -- CNBC
Apple denies explosive report of Chinese hacking on its servers -- FOX News
Apple, Amazon deny Bloomberg report on Chinese hardware attack -- Reuters
Apple, Amazon deny report that Chinese spy chips infiltrated their hardware -- CNET
Apple, Amazon Deny China Installed Tiny Spy Microchips on Their Servers, but We're Still Freaked Out -- Gizmodo
3 comments:
And using US technology they bought, or stole, or otherwise may have acquired? Boeing aircraft technology springs to mind. Solyndra, anyone?
Why is Trump bringing this up? We can all be friends in the sandbox, moaned a slightly embarrassed prior occupant of the White House whose administration pushed for the futile loan to Solyndra despite warnings about Solyndra's financial viability.
But Russia hacked us!
But Trump!
Waaah!
- Democrat
I just don't understand how this can happen. These companies know that China is famous for spy tech. Why install these chips? Who authorised this? What do you say, department supervisor Mr. Chan Xi? You installed them because you like them? Where are you from again? On work visa you say? No background check you say? No fear of what happens to Chinese spy you say?
Maybe we should revisit death penalty for Chinese spies?
If you are an American spy in China you do get executed. Don't believe me? Just over the last decade about 20 American spies -were- executed.
No Chinese spies ever were executed. They get a couple years in a nice comfy jail cell and then sent back home to live of state pension forever. That's not a bad deal
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