“Apple CEO Tim Cook, in an interview with BuzzFeed News, went on the record for the first time to deny allegations that his company was the victim of a hardware-based attack carried out by the Chinese government,” John Paczkowski and Joseph Bernstein report for Buzzfeed News. “And, in an unprecedented move for the company, he called for a retraction of the story that made this claim.”
“According to Bloomberg, the company discovered some sabotaged hardware in 2015, promptly cut ties with the vendor, Supermicro, that supplied it, and reported the incident to the FBI,” Paczkowski and Bernstein report. “Apple, however, has maintained that none of this is true — in a comment to Bloomberg, in a vociferous and detailed company statement, and in a letter to Congress signed by Apple’s vice president of information security, George Stathakopoulos.”
“On Thursday evening, an indignant Cook further ratcheted up the tension in response to an inquiry from BuzzFeed News,” Paczkowski and Bernstein report. “‘There is no truth in their story about Apple,’ Cook told BuzzFeed News in a phone interview. ‘They need to do that right thing and retract it.'”
“‘We turned the company upside down,’ Cook said. ‘Email searches, data center records, financial records, shipment records. We really forensically whipped through the company to dig very deep and each time we came back to the same conclusion: This did not happen. There’s no truth to this,'” Paczkowski and Bernstein report. “Asked if scenario like the one Bloomberg described could occur without him knowing about it, Cook replied, ‘The likelihood of that is virtually zero.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Something’s rotten at Bloomberg Businessweek.
“Apple and Amazon should sue Bloomberg Businessweek to the point of much pain and make an example of them.” — MacDailyNews, October 5, 2018
SEE ALSO:
Before China iCloud spy chip allegations, Bloomberg published these five incorrect stories about Apple – October 10, 2018
U.S. Senators Rubio and Blumenthal demand answers from Supermicro over spy chip allegations – October 10, 2018
Apple CEO Tim Cook is in Shanghai in possible PR move after Bloomberg Businessweek’s spy chip yarn – October 9, 2018
One of Bloomberg’s sources told them Chinese spy chip story ‘didn’t make sense’ – October 9, 2018
Apple suppliers took an $18 billion stock hit after Bloomberg’s disputed China hacking report – October 5, 2018
UK cyber security agency backs Apple, Amazon China hack denials – October 5, 2018
Apple official statement: What Bloomberg Businessweek got wrong about Apple – October 5, 2018
Apple strongly disputes Bloomberg BusinessWeek report that Chinese ‘spy’ chips were found in iCloud servers – October 4, 2018
but, but….I thought there was no such thing as fake news!!
The whole reporting/journalism/mass media institution are in shambles and corrupt. Nothing more than tentacles of the powerful to manipulate the masses.
Something’s odd. Cook immediately flew to China and is asking for retraction. Perhaps so China can “save face” so to speak? While 100% of story might not be accurate there could be some truth to it. China has been stealing corporate secrets for decades so it wouldn’t surprise me.
Scummy Chinese. They should be like American companies who NEVER steal IP, and, if they had accidentally done it once or twice, would CERTAINLY not do it routinely.
Even if Microsoft/Bloomberg retracts the phony story, the damage is done.
It’s possible that Tim Cook is telling the truth.
It is also possible that Apple is so hopelessly dependent on Chinese manufacturing that they have to do anything China says.
It’s hard to tell from here.
BTW, Who makes Apple’s T2 security chip? I hope it isn’t made in China.
Wataminit. TSMC is in Taiwan. What does Apple use from China?
Foxcom is in China, and TSMC is in Taiwan. How does this work? Do they send the chips to the US and back?
I’m just confused as all hell now. I know there are times when you are supposed to call Taiwan “China” but WTF? How is China influencing work done in Taiwan, given their bizarre political relationship?