News Chinese spy chips found on popular server motherboards

[Becky]

Becky submitted a new article:

Chinese spy chips found on popular server motherboards - The affected servers are used by Amazon, Apple, and even high security government agencies

Super Micro Computer Inc, also known as 'Supermicro', is one of the largest manufacturers of high-end server motherboards. Their products are top of the range and highly sought after by large technology companies such as Amazon and Apple. However, in a worrying turn of events, it has been revealed that malicious chips, no bigger than the tip of a sharpened pencil, have been found on these boards.

The chips allow attackers to gain access to any network of which it is part. As part of the...

Read more about this article...

 

[nivrip]

Now, that is worrying.

 

[Becky]

Now, that is worrying.

It is indeed. The fact that these chips have found their way into government servers is horrifying!

 

[nivrip]

Yup, it's going to make everyone think twice about buying anything made in China or even with Chinese parts in it. The government MUST take this very seriously.

 

[Abraham Andres Luna]

I'm waiting on the instructions to detect these chips in my devices. Because I have an Amazon Kindle, how do I know if my device has one of these chips in it? I have to wait until they figure out how to find them. Maybe I have to dismantle it, hopefully I can just run an app that'll detect it.

If it does have the spy chip in it, I wonder if Amazon would issue a refund. That's not right that they sold us hacked devices.

 

[Abraham Andres Luna]

New article today about these Chinese spy chips:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/9/17955848/supermicro-telecom-server-hack-apple-amazon

So I'm getting closer to believing that my Amazon Kindle has a spy chip in it

 

[Becky]

@Abraham Andres Luna don't panic, it's only high-end server motherboards apparently

Plus there's a lot of scepticism about the whole thing - Bloomberg are adamantly standing by their reporting, but it has been strongly denied by Apple and Amazon (which you'd expect whether it was true or not). There are rumours that the government sources used by Bloomberg are actually trying to push a false narrative in order to bring manufacturing back to the USA... Who knows

 

[Abraham Andres Luna]

don't panic, it's only high-end server motherboards apparently

Well that makes me feel better