Apple and Amazon spied by Chinese microchips

Chinese intelligence has used tiny chips, mounted in hardware equipment sold in the United States, to spy on American government and Corporations. The complaint comes from an investigation published by the agency Bloomberg, and coincides with the speech held a few days ago by Vice President Pence to accuse Beijing of interference in the U.S. political system. 

At the heart of the operation is Supermicro founded by Taiwanese engineer Charles Liang in San José. This company produced the motherboard servers, the basic hardware components for dozens of customers, including Elemental Technologies, which in turn provided the technology used by Amazon Prime to compress the video of its streaming service. During a test of the products conducted in Canada, the technicians discovered microchips as large as the tip of a pencil, inserted inside the MOTHERBOARDS. As they were not part of the original design of the hardware, they alerted the American authorities. Hence the investigation that revealed the conspiracy. Going up the supply chain, investigators discovered that the chips had been installed by Chinese contractors used by Supermicro. The chips had the ability to spy on all the hardware activities on which they were installed, and the goal of the operation was to get them into the systems of all American Supermicro customers.  This way Beijing had obtained the access to the secrets of digital giants such as Amazon and Apple, but also of the U.S. intelligence and defence apparatus, which had relations of collaboration with Elemental Technologies. The operation had begun during the Obama's administration, and was continued with Trump. Amazon, Apple, Supermicro and the Chinese government itself have disproved, but Bloomberg responded that several sources still active in American intelligence have confirmed. The revelation came just before the speech held by Vice-President Pence at the Hudson Institute, to accuse Beijing of interfering with the US political system, in order to damage Trump after his commercial strategic policies with the Chinese government. China adopts a comprehensive governmental approach, using political, economic, military and propaganda means to advance its influence and benefit from its interests in the United States. Trump had launched the same accusation at the UN, referring mainly to propaganda and tariffs imposed to strike workers in the key states where he won his presidential election, but now a technological element of espionage very sophisticated is added, which perhaps connects even the hypothesis circulated to the White House to deny visas to Chinese students. Tensions are also military, as Cnn says the Pentagon is considering doing military exercises in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait claimed by Beijing to counter its claims and reaffirm American interests and freedom of navigation in that region.

Published under CC License. Source 'La stampa', Paolo Mastrolilli. Translatation and modification  by Giuseppe Loporchio