Supermicro along with Apple and Amazon refute claims in Bloomberg story

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 10/05/2018 08:59 AM | source: supermicro | 43 comment(s)

Super Micro Computer, Inc. (SMCI), a global leader in enterprise computing, storage, networking solutions and green computing technology, strongly refutes reports that servers it sold to customers contained malicious microchips in the motherboards of those systems.

In an article today, it is alleged that Supermicro motherboards sold to certain customers contained malicious chips on its motherboards in 2015. Supermicro has never found any malicious chips, nor been informed by any customer that such chips have been found.

Each company mentioned in the article (Supermicro, Apple, Amazonand Elemental) has issued strong statements denying the claims:

Apple stated on CNBC, "We are deeply disappointed that in their dealings with us, Bloomberg's reporters have not been open to the possibility that they or their sources might be wrong or misinformed. Our best guess is that they are confusing their story with a previously reported 2016 incident in which we discovered an infected driver on a single Supermicro server in one of our labs. That one-time event was determined to be accidental and not a targeted attack against Apple."

Steve Schmidt, Chief Information Security Officer at Amazon Web Services stated, "As we shared with Bloomberg BusinessWeek multiple times over the last couple months, at no time, past or present, have we ever found any issues relating to modified hardware or malicious chips in Supermicro motherboards in any Elemental or Amazon systems.‎"

Supermicro has never been contacted by any government agencies either domestic or foreign regarding the alleged claims.

Supermicro takes all security claims very seriously and makes continuous investments in the security capabilities of their products. The manufacture of motherboards in China is not unique to Supermicro and is a standard industry practice. Nearly all systems providers use the same contract manufacturers. Supermicro qualifies and certifies every contract manufacturer and routinely inspects their facilities and processes closely.

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tunejunky
Senior Member

Posts: 3443
Joined: 2017-08-18

#5596896 Posted on: 10/16/2018 03:58 PM

That, what they described is not possible even with 7nm technology. You can read my posts here which show what is possible. And embedding Chip into MB... possible, one can then claim that they have entire additional layer of traces to invade all dozens of pins required to be invaded. Except that scanning methods would apparently see that additional layer of traces. Too easy to identify, too easy to prove.

But that entire BB article did their best to evade provision of any proof. It is just talking, and talking... scaring and scaring... no proof whatsoever.

I am all in for conspiracies as it is food for the thought, but they have very little to think about.

with all due respect, you have no idea of what is possible.

we are talking National Laboratories with National resources. nothing in the market, market practices, or industrial scale have anything to do with that.
in other words, secret / advanced technology.
it doesn't need to be "market ready" as there is only one customer.

yeah for some of you that is walking out on the conspiracy branch a step too far.

but i deal with sensor technology and passive sensors every single day for almost as wide a range of environments as exist in our corner of the universe.

my only trouble with the story is the method(s) of data transmission. simply because if the Chinese did have wireless transmission they would be in the market with it as it would be a game changer.

but do the Chinese do something like this, if not this? Hell Yes, they do.

Fox2232
Senior Member

Posts: 11808
Joined: 2012-07-20

#5596911 Posted on: 10/16/2018 04:30 PM

with all due respect, you have no idea of what is possible.

we are talking National Laboratories with National resources. nothing in the market, market practices, or industrial scale have anything to do with that.
in other words, secret / advanced technology.
it doesn't need to be "market ready" as there is only one customer.

yeah for some of you that is walking out on the conspiracy branch a step too far.

but i deal with sensor technology and passive sensors every single day for almost as wide a range of environments as exist in our corner of the universe.

my only trouble with the story is the method(s) of data transmission. simply because if the Chinese did have wireless transmission they would be in the market with it as it would be a game changer.

but do the Chinese do something like this, if not this? Hell Yes, they do.
1st, I know exactly what is possible. And A lot is. But not way they described it. And problem is how easily that what they described would be detectable.
In that case, they throw you proof on top of proof to point, nobody here ever needs to question it.

Secondly, your notion of Wireless. Our datacenters are built to withstand nukes and are fully EMP shielded way above any bomb can do and will do in foreseeable future. Wireless? Sure, your phone stops working moment you walk through security checkpoint on surface. That's why there are wired phones everywhere. Down there, nothing human made can send information out. Wave power required to get out would fry all electronics around. And possibly knock out people.

So, what they write is quite BS till they care to put out any sort of evidence. Detailed photo of SMD, plausible attack vector, ...

sykozis
Senior Member

Posts: 22469
Joined: 2008-07-14

#5597096 Posted on: 10/17/2018 12:59 AM

with all due respect, you have no idea of what is possible.

we are talking National Laboratories with National resources. nothing in the market, market practices, or industrial scale have anything to do with that.
in other words, secret / advanced technology.
it doesn't need to be "market ready" as there is only one customer.

yeah for some of you that is walking out on the conspiracy branch a step too far.

but i deal with sensor technology and passive sensors every single day for almost as wide a range of environments as exist in our corner of the universe.

my only trouble with the story is the method(s) of data transmission. simply because if the Chinese did have wireless transmission they would be in the market with it as it would be a game changer.

but do the Chinese do something like this, if not this? Hell Yes, they do.
You're completely ignoring the simple fact that such a chip would require numerous traces to connect to the system. Those traces alone would make the chip larger than a grain of rice. Those traces would also make the chip easily detectable.

Also, the Chinese Gov't is not capable of fabricating microchips smaller than the manufacturing companies are capable of.

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