7 ms·

Why wouldn't the US gov show one of the infected motherboards? It seems like it would be perfect proof that China is engaged in aggressive hacking. The story is

by 21 8y ago

Why wouldn't the US gov show one of the infected motherboards? It seems like it would be perfect proof that China is engaged in aggressive hacking. The story is in the open now. If it's true, China knows that we know. So what else is there to hide?

SiempreViernes 8y ago
Maybe they were happy to use the same backdoors for themselves?
- will_brown 8y ago
  Maybe “they” were happy to have China do the dirty work and take the fall, but it was all conceived and execute by “them.”
  - SiempreViernes 8y ago
    I think its pretty clear from context that "they" refers to the intelligence agencies of the US government.
    - will_brown 8y ago
      Oh there is no confusion over who we are referencing.
- singularity2001 8y ago
  That theory would explain a lot
- rqs 8y ago
  In this case, maybe using a software or firmware virus could be a better way? Easy to install, easy to remove, leaves no evidence if be careful. This got me thinking, why plant a chip? I mean, it's hard to make, and will almost certainly be caught.
  - SiempreViernes 8y ago
    Hardware stays put, even very targeted viruses don't as evidenced by stuxnet.
rocqua 8y ago
More directly relevant, why doesn't bloomberg show one of them in practice? That would really help in confirming the story. (Not that I doubt bloomberg here)
sandworm101 8y ago
Because it takes weeks/months to get such things declassified through standard channels. And all the non-standard ways require efforts by elected officials. They are all busy with something else atm.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
eljimmy 8y ago
Flip side is the US govt placed these chips and are deflecting the blame to China.
pbhjpbhj 8y ago
Couldn't the hackers just swap a chip for a duplicate that has the extra "chip" within it. Then all you have to show is identical looking boards, and it doesn't matter if you can show the difference technically, if people see identical looking boards they'll say it's fake.
gwbas1c 8y ago
Because someone could interpret chips like this as an act of war?

by 21 8y ago

SiempreViernes 8y ago

Maybe they were happy to use the same backdoors for themselves?

will_brown 8y ago
Maybe “they” were happy to have China do the dirty work and take the fall, but it was all conceived and execute by “them.”
- SiempreViernes 8y ago
  I think its pretty clear from context that "they" refers to the intelligence agencies of the US government.
  - will_brown 8y ago
    Oh there is no confusion over who we are referencing.
singularity2001 8y ago
That theory would explain a lot
rqs 8y ago
In this case, maybe using a software or firmware virus could be a better way? Easy to install, easy to remove, leaves no evidence if be careful. This got me thinking, why plant a chip? I mean, it's hard to make, and will almost certainly be caught.
- SiempreViernes 8y ago
  Hardware stays put, even very targeted viruses don't as evidenced by stuxnet.

rocqua 8y ago

More directly relevant, why doesn't bloomberg show one of them in practice? That would really help in confirming the story. (Not that I doubt bloomberg here)

sandworm101 8y ago

Because it takes weeks/months to get such things declassified through standard channels. And all the non-standard ways require efforts by elected officials. They are all busy with something else atm.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

eljimmy 8y ago

Flip side is the US govt placed these chips and are deflecting the blame to China.

pbhjpbhj 8y ago

Couldn't the hackers just swap a chip for a duplicate that has the extra "chip" within it. Then all you have to show is identical looking boards, and it doesn't matter if you can show the difference technically, if people see identical looking boards they'll say it's fake.

gwbas1c 8y ago

Because someone could interpret chips like this as an act of war?