The latest instalment of the Bloomberg spy chip story was based on a misunderstanding, according to a former cybersecurity specialist at GCHQ – the UK equivalent of the NSA …
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Just when we thought the world couldn’t get any more surreal, the Super Micro spy chip story has been raised from the dead.
Bloomberg was roundly condemned at the time for sticking to its guns even after there was overwhelming evidence that it was mistaken and had confused talk of a theoretical risk with an actual attack. The agency was repeatedly asked to provide hard evidence for the claim, rather than just hearsay, and failed to do so …
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Bloomberg is resurrecting the Super Micro spy chip story it first ran in 2018. The original story was met with blanket and unambiguous denials from everyone from Apple to the NSA, and the media company was roundly condemned for failing to either provide supporting evidence or retract the claim. Today, it is doubling down.
Today’s update claims that spy chips were found in Super Micro servers at the US Department of Defense …
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American server supplier Super Micro is dropping Chinese chips from its products, despite zero evidence ever emerging to support claims of spy chips installed in Apple and Amazon servers – and a great deal of evidence to suggest that Bloomberg’s report was wrong.
Bloomberg last year claimed that Apple found Chinese surveillance chips in servers supplied by Super Micro, a claim which was quickly and aggressively refuted by Apple and others …
The tech news was dominated in October by a dramatic Bloomberg claim that Chinese spy chips had been embedded into the Super Micro motherboards of servers supplied to Apple, Amazon and others. The report claimed that Apple had discovered the chips, and reported the fact to the FBI.
All involved – Apple, Amazon and Super Micro – denied the claims, but the motherboard supplier decided the only way to lay this to rest was to commission an independent audit to investigate. That investigation has now been completed, and the firm says it found absolutely no evidence to support the story …
A tech consultant and journalist specializing in server hardware says that some of the Bloomberg spy chip claims are completely implausible, while others are simply impossible.
The analysis coincides with Amazon joining calls made by Apple and Super Micro for the magazine to retract its story …
Earlier today, Super Micro Computer told its customers that it would conduct further checks into Bloomberg’s Chinese spy chip story, despite a lack of evidence to support the claims.
Now, Super Micro CEO Charles Liang has joined Tim Cook in calling on Bloomberg to retract the story completely.
Super Micro Computer has told its customers that it will conduct further checks into Bloomberg’s Chinese spy chip claims despite the lack of evidence.
The announcement follows Tim Cook’s call for Bloomberg to retract the story …
The weight of evidence that Bloomberg’s spy chip claims were based on a misunderstanding continues to grow.
An NSA spokesperson has said that the story had people ‘chasing shadows’ and even with the ‘great access’ the organization has to secret information, it can still find no evidence to support Bloomberg’s claims …
The Chinese spy chip story continues, despite all the denials and signs suggesting that Bloomberg simply got it wrong.
A bipartisan pair of senators have written to motherboard supplier Supermicro acknowledging that the company has denied the claim, but nonetheless seeking answers to eight questions …
Bloomberg said that its sources were key to its decision to run the Chinese spy chip story, the site writing that ’17 people confirmed the manipulation of Supermicro’s hardware and other elements of the attacks.’
However, one of the named sources – a security researcher who seemingly backed the claims – has said that his comment was taken out of context, and he actually told the site that what it was describing to him “didn’t make sense” …
I wrote an opinion piece on Friday outlining the five reasons I believe Apple, not Bloomberg, about the Chinese spy chip story.
It’s a friend-of-a-friend story. The technical arguments suggest it didn’t happen in the way Bloomberg says it did. Apple’s denial appears unequivocal. The company has ruled out the gag order theory. And, if it were true, there would be no reason now not to come clean about it.
Since then, four further reasons to believe Apple have emerged …
In response to a Bloomberg Businessweek story alleging Apple discovered Chinese spy chips in its servers, The Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement in which it sides with Apple. The DHS says it currently has “no reason to doubt” Apple’s denial.
Following a string of denials from the company itself, “multiple senior Apple executives” have now spoken to BuzzFeed News regarding Bloomberg’s puzzling story alleging server infiltration by a Chinese spy chip. The executives, who spoke under the condition on anonymity, strongly denied the story to BuzzFeed and offered more details on the internal Apple investigation.
Britain’s equivalent of the NSA, GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), has sided with Apple and Amazon in the Chinese spy chip row …
Bloomberg’s Chinese spy chip story yesterday has dominated tech news. All the companies involved – Apple, Amazon and Super Micro – have issued strong denials, so the big question is: who is telling the truth?
The piece was either a massive scoop about something of vital importance to everyone, or an embarrassing misunderstanding since debunked by the companies involved.
Deciding which applies isn’t entirely straightforward, but there are five reasons I come down on the side of believing Apple …
Earlier today, Apple issued an incredibly strong denial in response to a report from Bloomberg, which alleged that Apple and a handful of other tech companies had some data compromised due to Chinese surveillance chips being found in a Super Micro server. The report noted that these chips were found on Apple’s servers sometime around 2015.
Following its earlier statement on the report, Apple has now published a press release on its website detailing what actually happened as it continues to deny the allegations.
Bloomberg has today published a report claiming that companies including Amazon and Apple found Chinese surveillance chips in their server hardware contracted from Super Micro. Bloomberg claims Apple found these chips on its server motherboards in 2015. Apple is strongly refuting this report, sending out press statements to several publications, not just Bloomberg.
In a statement to CNBC, Apple said ‘we are deeply disappointed that in their dealings with us, Bloomberg’s reporters have not been open to the possibility that they or their sources might be wrong or misinformed.’.
