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I heard this on NPR [1] and thought it was interesting and hadn't seen it in these articles on HN: > When [Bloomberg] asked China's foreign ministry for a resp

I heard this on NPR [1] and thought it was interesting and hadn't seen it in these articles on HN: > When [Bloomberg] asked China's foreign ministry for a response, a lot of times they'll say things like, you're crazy; we know nothing about this. Their response was a little more nuanced and contextual in the environment we're in now. Basically they said, we are a victim of these kinds of attacks, too. And, you know, they're right. The U.S. government - it's very, very good at these kinds of hardware attacks. Supporting evidence for Bloomberg's claim: NSA interdiction of US export shipments [2]. [1] https://www.npr.org/2018/10/04/654518383/bloomberg-reporter-outlines-how-chinese-microchips-infiltrated-nearly-30-u-s-com https://www.npr.org/2018/10/04/654518383/bloomberg-reporter-... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/12/glenn-greenwald-nsa-tampers-us-internet-routers-snowden https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/12/glenn-greenwal...

stephengillie 8y ago
Are you saying the NSA bribed manufacturers in China to add these to boards - so Americans would discover then and accuse the Chinese government of espionage? Is this the stick to the tariff's carrot? Remember, astronauts couldn't have met aliens on the moon, if the moon landings were faked.
- nkrisc 8y ago
  > Remember, astronauts couldn't have met aliens on the moon, if the moon landings were faked. Now that's a debate I'd pay to watch.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- rqs 8y ago
  Or maybe just those manufacturers doing their online shopping and accidentally bought those kind of comprised chips. Yes, you can actually buy the similar looking chip on Taobao.com by searching HHM1523C1[0] or HHM1526[1]. Some vendors even claims the chips they're selling are "Imported, 100% legit". And, of course there can be another interpretation: We (China) bugged your server, because you (the U.S.) bugged ours first. The water is so muddy right now, maybe wait for more information? [0] https://s.taobao.com/search?q=HHM1523C1 https://s.taobao.com/search?q=HHM1523C1 [1] https://s.taobao.com/search?q=HHM1526 https://s.taobao.com/search?q=HHM1526
- wyldfire 8y ago
  No, I am not. I'm saying that China's foreign ministry's response sounds a little like they're saying "we are [merely] retaliating in kind." NSA has been caught adulterating computers in export interdictions and maybe this is us catching China up to the same. I didn't bring up trade wars at all, I don't think it's necessarily related (this kind of tradecraft was likely in the works for much longer than recent trade disputes). So plain old espionage, executed for whatever the needs of the day might be.
sinuhe69 8y ago
The fact that NSA could do it supports at least a strong possibility that the Chinese could do the same on their soil. It’s crazy to waste such excellent attack vectors, especially when Supermicro is a American and not a Chinese company.
paulcarroty 8y ago
> Basically they said, we are a victim of these kinds of attacks, too. Good shit. Chinese government probably love Alex Jones a lot.
- dang 8y ago
  Please don't post unsubstantive comments here. Especially not partisan or nationalistic ones. We're trying for a bit better than internet median here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

stephengillie 8y ago

Are you saying the NSA bribed manufacturers in China to add these to boards - so Americans would discover then and accuse the Chinese government of espionage? Is this the stick to the tariff's carrot? Remember, astronauts couldn't have met aliens on the moon, if the moon landings were faked.

nkrisc 8y ago
> Remember, astronauts couldn't have met aliens on the moon, if the moon landings were faked. Now that's a debate I'd pay to watch.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
rqs 8y ago
Or maybe just those manufacturers doing their online shopping and accidentally bought those kind of comprised chips. Yes, you can actually buy the similar looking chip on Taobao.com by searching HHM1523C1[0] or HHM1526[1]. Some vendors even claims the chips they're selling are "Imported, 100% legit". And, of course there can be another interpretation: We (China) bugged your server, because you (the U.S.) bugged ours first. The water is so muddy right now, maybe wait for more information? [0] https://s.taobao.com/search?q=HHM1523C1 https://s.taobao.com/search?q=HHM1523C1 [1] https://s.taobao.com/search?q=HHM1526 https://s.taobao.com/search?q=HHM1526
wyldfire 8y ago
No, I am not. I'm saying that China's foreign ministry's response sounds a little like they're saying "we are [merely] retaliating in kind." NSA has been caught adulterating computers in export interdictions and maybe this is us catching China up to the same. I didn't bring up trade wars at all, I don't think it's necessarily related (this kind of tradecraft was likely in the works for much longer than recent trade disputes). So plain old espionage, executed for whatever the needs of the day might be.

sinuhe69 8y ago

The fact that NSA could do it supports at least a strong possibility that the Chinese could do the same on their soil. It’s crazy to waste such excellent attack vectors, especially when Supermicro is a American and not a Chinese company.

paulcarroty 8y ago

> Basically they said, we are a victim of these kinds of attacks, too. Good shit. Chinese government probably love Alex Jones a lot.

dang 8y ago
Please don't post unsubstantive comments here. Especially not partisan or nationalistic ones. We're trying for a bit better than internet median here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html