A major United States telecom company found hacked hardware in its network in August. The hardware, from Super Micro Computer Inc. (also known as Supermicro), is further evidence of tampering from China.
According to Bloomberg:
"The security expert, Yossi Appleboum, provided documents, analysis and other evidence of the discovery following the publication of an investigative report in Bloomberg Businessweek that detailed how China’s intelligence services had ordered subcontractors to plant malicious chips in Supermicro server motherboards over a two-year period ending in 2015."
Supermicro, which is based in San Jose, Calif., uses Chinese subcontractors in its supply chain, and there are numerous points along that process where manipulations and/or hacks can be introduced.
“The security of our customers and the integrity of our products are core to our business and our company values," Supermicro said in a statement. "We take care to secure the integrity of our products throughout the manufacturing process, and supply chain security is an important topic of discussion for our industry. We still have no knowledge of any unauthorized components and have not been informed by any customer that such components have been found. We are dismayed that Bloomberg would give us only limited information, no documentation, and half a day to respond to these new allegations.”
For more, check out the original report in
Bloomberg.