The Department of Homeland Security released a statement officially invalidating an Oct. 4 report from Bloomberg Businessweek which claimed that spies implanted chips into the parts of Apple and Amazon products to infiltrate the computer systems of U.S. companies and affluent Americans.
At the center of the controversy was a report published Thursday that alleged spies were able to saw an opportunity to infiltrate the computer networks of an estimated 30 companies in the United States. The opportunity came when the alleged spies exploited vulnerabilities within the supply chain that manufacture and assemble equipment for companies that include Apple and Amazon, as well as other government contractors.
One contractor that was allegedly compromised is a company that provides software for drones used by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The said drones were apparently used also to communicate with the International Space Station.
The report from Bloomberg Businessweek further alleged that the spies implanted microchips smaller than a grain of sand into the equipment manufactured by Super Micro. The microchips in question were reportedly implanted during the manufacturing process in facilities located in China. Super Micro is one of the largest suppliers of server motherboards across the world.
Apple, Amazon, Super Micro, and the Chinese government denied the allegations. The Homeland Security sided with the accused parties, denying the alleged microchip implanting in a statement released on Oct. 6.
The department highlighted that it believes that the companies were innocent with regard to the allegations detailed in the Bloomberg report. It highlighted that security of information and communications technology in the supply chain is the priority of the department's cybersecurity mission. More so, the department said it is committed to upholding the security and integrity of the technology used not just by U.S. citizens but people around the world.
In Apple's own statement, it stressed that as a matter of strict practice and standard procedure, the Apple engineers inspect each of the firmware and software before servers are put into production in their facilities. The company asserted that they did not discover any breach in the servers they purchased from Super Micro as what has been alleged by Bloomberg.
Apple said Siri and Topsy never shared servers. Siri has also never been launched on servers purchased from Super Micro. Topsy data has a limit to about 2,000 Super Micro servers and not 7,000. All of these servers are found to be free from any implanted tiny microchips alleged in the Bloomberg report, Apple said.
As revealed in Apple's statement, Bloomberg has apparently contacted the company for multiple times regarding several allegations about the security breach in the past, even prior to this recent spying report. Each time, Apple responded with vigorous internal investigations but always found the allegations unfounded.
