Concern and caution: Why a report on Chinese microchips has experts nervous
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Cybersecurity experts are reacting with a mix of concern and skepticism after Bloomberg Magazine published an article on Thursday alleging that China’s military had succeeded in placing microchips into widely used computer systems.
The article focused on Super Micro, a U.S. company that makes computer parts used by a variety of major companies as well as government systems. Bloomberg reported that 17 sources, who spoke to the magazine anonymously, found that some of Super Micro’s motherboards included previously unidentified microchips that created major security vulnerabilities, which were also difficult to detect.
The article added that Apple and Amazon both discovered the issue, and that the U.S. government was able to trace the chips back to the Chinese military. Apple, Amazon and Super Micro have each issued lengthy, blanket denials of the story . Those denials have led some cybersecurity experts to urge caution about jumping to conclusions based on Bloomberg’s reporting.
Oren Falkowitz, CEO of cybersecurity firm Area 1 Security, said the Bloomberg article was an example of long-held concerns in the cybersecurity community.
“This is what people have been worried about for a long time,” Falkowitz said. “It is really scary that this is happening.”
“The effects of globalization both in the hardware and digital supply chains have long been a challenge for computer security,” Falkowitz said.
J. Michael Daniel, president of Cyber Threat Alliance, a non-profit coalition of cybersecurity companies, said hardware attacks require a high investment, high reward proposition.
“These kinds of supply chain attacks are very difficult to pull off but can have a high return if they succeed and are also very hard therefore to detect,” Daniel said.
Robert Pritchard, a cybersecurity specialist with the think tank Royal United Service Institute and former deputy head of the U.K.’s Cyber Security Operations Centre, said supply-chain attacks are among the most sophisticated — and risky — efforts to infiltrate security systems.
“Interfering with the supply chain in a manner like this is something that is very difficult to defend against,” Pritchard said.
Tags
Who is online
82 visitors
OK, so first it was the Chinese settling debts with small nations that are in debt to them by gaining waterways and now we are finding out that the Chinese may be having access to our computers. It seems that while we were focused on Russia, China has become out sleeping tiger.
This is why I don't have an Echo in my home.
Hey.. maybe my computer has been compromised?
Hey... maybe so has every level of gov.
the Chinese may be having access to our computers. It seems that while we were focused on Russia, China has become out sleeping tiger.
Yep. China doesn't stop. China seems to plan for centuries while we cant even fix or agree about yesterday. Anyday.
I remember seeing how that worked long ago and I figure sooner or later we'll all (as I put it) be eating rice someday. I remember saying that since I was a child and NO one told me that.
Long term planning verse short term chaos which is the likely winner ?
LOL..PS: I have one of the cell phones the government banned for all federal employees that was made in China. Big deal I dont know shit that would help anyone. I'm more concerned about Google at this point.
PSS: Nice to see you enjoying your site Perrie. Hope you are doing well.
It wasn't too long ago that I started to get the feeling that the biggest mistake humanity has made was to invent the computer and internet. Not only has that combination invited suspicion (and it may not be just suspicion) of interference with elections, military and civil espionage, and has facilitated good old-fashioned spying. Everything is so much faster now because of it. I miss the good old days when the most complex electronic instrument was a calculator, because I think it's somewhat exhausting to use an abacus. Back in the days when cash registers were manual, before "adding machines" were invented, it was even necessary to actually learn how to count when giving customers change, but these days I'm surprised if anyone can actually multiply 11 X 12 in their heads.
Oh, and about waking up the sleeping tiger China, Napoleon warned the world about that a long time ago. Somebody didn't listen.
I work for an agency of the DoD. When sourcing items with electronic components, we cannot purchase items with Chinese manufactured components. The reason behind this is because it was determined that a majority of electronic items with chips coming from China contained viruses. Now, to be sure, we're not talking about hacking viruses with an attempt to gain access. It's because the Chinese companies had such lax QA that viruses were in their manufacturing equipment and would be passed on to the chips. An electronic ballast for a light would have viruses in the ic chips. Since a light ballast is not normally thought of as being part of a computer network, the company would not scan for viruses.
But now, with automation tying everything into computer and network controls, there is a real danger of these viruses spreading.
I always said any future war between advanced nations would be fought and won (or lost) in cyber space well before a single bullet or missile has been fired.