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"A Friday report from Bloomberg News revealed China was able to spy on American computer systems for a decade by supplying compromised chips to Super Micro Computer Inc. (Supermicro), one of America’s leading motherboard providers. According to the report, U.S. intelligence agencies were aware of this wide-reaching Chinese espionage program but did not warn either Supermicro or its customers, because they prioritized monitoring China’s surveillance techniques and developing countermeasures against them........

Rob Joyce, Senior Advisor for Cybersecurity Strategy at the NSA, is the latest official to question the accuracy of Bloomberg Businessweek's bombshell "The Big Hack" report about Chinese spies compromising the U.S. tech supply chain. "I have pretty good understanding about what we're worried about and what we're working on from my position. I don't see it," said Joyce, speaking at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce cyber summit in Washington, D.C. today, according to a subscriber-only Politico report viewed by MacRumors. "I've got all sorts of commercial industry freaking out and just losing their minds about this concern, and nobody's...

Bloomberg link only.

Bloomberg said that its sources were key to its decision to run the Chinese spy chip story, the site writing that ’17 people confirmed the manipulation of Supermicro’s hardware and other elements of the attacks.’ However, one of the named sources – a security researcher who seemingly backed the claims – has said that his comment was taken out of context, and he actually told the site that what it was describing to him “didn’t make sense” … Hardware security expert Joe Fitzpatrick was quoted in the piece saying “the hardware opens whatever door it wants.” But speaking on the...

SAN FRANCISCO — Super Micro Computer Inc., a supplier of high-end servers and mother boards, pleaded guilty Monday (Sept. 18) to a felony charge of unlawfully exporting computer components to Iran, according to the U.S. attorney's office here. According to the Commerce Department, the conviction is among the first of a U.S. company for exporting items to Iran controlled for national security reasons. Super Micro (San Jose, Calif.) was charged Sept. 1 with one count of knowingly exporting items subject to export regulations without obtaining a license, the Justice Department said. The company agreed to plead guilty and pay a...