A recent report claimed Chinese spies had placed compromised computer chips in equipment used by 30 companies and US agencies<\/b>
\nThe U. S. Department of Homeland Security said Saturday it currently had no reason to doubt statements from companies that have denied a Bloomberg report that their supply chains were compromised by malicious computer chips inserted by Chinese intelligence services.
\u201cThe Department of Homeland Security is aware of the media reports of a technology supply chain compromise,\u201d DHS said in a statement.
\u201cLike our partners in the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre, at this time we have no reason to doubt the statements from the companies named in the story,\u201d it said.
Bloomberg Businessweek on Thursday cited 17 unidentified intelligence and company sources as saying that Chinese spies had placed computer chips inside equipment used by around 30 companies, as well as multiple U. S. government agencies, which would give Beijing secret access to internal networks.
Apple and Amazon
Britain\u2019s national cyber security agency said Friday it had no reason to doubt the assessments made by Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc challenging the report.
Apple contested the Bloomberg report Thursday, saying its own internal investigations found no evidence to support the story\u2019s claims and that neither the company, nor its contacts in law enforcement, were aware of any investigation by the FBI on the matter.
Apple\u2019s recently retired general counsel, Bruce Sewell, told Reuters he called the FBI\u2019s then-general counsel, James Baker, last year after being told by Bloomberg of an open investigation of Super Micro Computer Inc, a hardware maker whose products Bloomberg said were implanted with malicious Chinese chips.
\u201cI got on the phone with him personally and said, \u2018Do you know anything about this?\u201d Sewell said of his conversation with Baker. \u201cHe said, \u2018I\u2019ve never heard of this, but give me 24 hours to make sure.\u2019 He called me back 24 hours later and said \u2018Nobody here knows what this story is about.\u201d Baker and the FBI declined to comment Friday.<\/p>\n