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Chinese spy chip: Four more reasons to believe Apple's denial

11 points by devy 8y ago

bigmonads 8y ago
Maybe: 1. There really was a supply chain attack, but Apple and AWS did not detect it. 2. Trump Administration staff worked with Bloomberg reporters on an domestic propaganda piece to expose the attack in a public way amid China-US trade war. 3. They blundered coordination of their strategic communications, not expecting companies to question the story. This allows us to consistently believe that: a. There was a supply chain attack. b. The companies mentioned were not those who detected it. c. Intelligence and Tech have different perspectives/stories. d. All actors/parties are acting in a way consistent with their missions, objectives, and incentives.
- hprotagonist 8y ago
  Given the people involved, #2 is a weak assertion.
  - bigmonads 8y ago
    Thanks, fixed.
rasz 8y ago
9to5mac also believed Apple on the whole 3rd party screen replaced iPhone 7/8 being bricked by OS upgrade was just a "bug and Apple is on top of fixing the situation". You know, after almost half a year of Apple playing stupid and ignoring angry customers.
natch 8y ago
The four reasons listed are just three assertions: 1) From Apple, which has already made their position clear, so it's just repeating that essentially, although the forum is different. 2) & 3) From government agencies that are specifically tasked with deception when needed. plus a report about what Brian Krebs said, which highlighted him saying that nobody should draw conclusions about the merit of the story based on the fact that he found nothing. Here's the quote: "I heard similar allegations earlier this year about Supermicro and tried mightily to verify them but could not. That in itself should be zero gauge of the story’s potential merit." So four "reasons" that really aren't. Although I do tend to believe Apple on this, the four reasons listed in the fine article do not add much. I'm surprised the author gave this such a breathless tone. His earlier opinion piece (https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/05/chinese-spy-chip/ https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/05/chinese-spy-chip/) gives better reasons to believe Apple.

11 points by devy 8y ago

Maybe: 1. There really was a supply chain attack, but Apple and AWS did not detect it. 2. Trump Administration staff worked with Bloomberg reporters on an domestic propaganda piece to expose the attack in a public way amid China-US trade war. 3. They blundered coordination of their strategic communications, not expecting companies to question the story. This allows us to consistently believe that: a. There was a supply chain attack. b. The companies mentioned were not those who detected it. c. Intelligence and Tech have different perspectives/stories. d. All actors/parties are acting in a way consistent with their missions, objectives, and incentives.

hprotagonist 8y ago
Given the people involved, #2 is a weak assertion.
- bigmonads 8y ago
  Thanks, fixed.

rasz 8y ago

9to5mac also believed Apple on the whole 3rd party screen replaced iPhone 7/8 being bricked by OS upgrade was just a "bug and Apple is on top of fixing the situation". You know, after almost half a year of Apple playing stupid and ignoring angry customers.

natch 8y ago

The four reasons listed are just three assertions: 1) From Apple, which has already made their position clear, so it's just repeating that essentially, although the forum is different. 2) & 3) From government agencies that are specifically tasked with deception when needed. plus a report about what Brian Krebs said, which highlighted him saying that nobody should draw conclusions about the merit of the story based on the fact that he found nothing. Here's the quote: "I heard similar allegations earlier this year about Supermicro and tried mightily to verify them but could not. That in itself should be zero gauge of the story’s potential merit." So four "reasons" that really aren't. Although I do tend to believe Apple on this, the four reasons listed in the fine article do not add much. I'm surprised the author gave this such a breathless tone. His earlier opinion piece (https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/05/chinese-spy-chip/ https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/05/chinese-spy-chip/) gives better reasons to believe Apple.