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According to a bomb report, China has been developing a large-scale spying operation in recent years, integrating essential server hardware components into critical server components using microchips that do not exceed the size of a grain of rice or the tip of a sharp pencil. These chips, once placed on the motherboards of popular servers, could help Chinese spies to access information that would otherwise be inaccessible.
The in-depth talk comes from Bloomberg Businessweek, which cited up to 17 people familiar with material manipulation, including six current and former national security officials, as well as sources from Amazon's AWS trade and three Apple insiders. The report notes that at least 30 US companies may have been victims of hardware hacking in the supply chain, including known personalities such as Amazon and Apple.
Amazon, Apple and Supermicro have all denied the allegations, as has China.
Modifying the material would give attackers immense power over the software, says the report. The chips could connect to external computers and force the hardware to allow the installation of more malware:
This system could allow attackers to change the operation of the device, line by line, as they wanted, without anyone noticing. To understand the power that would give them, let's take this hypothetical example: Somewhere in the Linux operating system, which runs on many servers, is a code that allows a user to check a password typed against a word encrypted password. An implanted chip can modify part of this code so that the server does not check the password – and presto! A secure machine is open to all users. A chip can also steal encryption keys for secure communications, block security updates that would neutralize the attack and open up new paths to Internet access.
Hardware piracy would give attackers unprecedented access to US corporations and the government, with a low risk of discovery. A malicious chip found in the AWS servers in China was so small that it slipped between the layers of fiberglass on which the other components were attached.
Bloomberg proposes this animation to highlight the size of the chip compared to the motherboard:
According to Bloomberg, for Amazon, it all started in 2015, when it used a third-party security team to examine Elémental's hardware. The team then apparently discovered a tiny chip that was no bigger than a grain of rice on Elemental motherboards, a material manufactured by Supermicro. Amazon would then have transmitted the information to the US government. Basic servers were also present in the Department of Defense data centers, CIA drone operations and naval warships.
Amazon has denied all the allegations:
It is not true that AWS had knowledge of a supply chain compromise, a problem with malicious chips or hardware changes during the acquisition of Elemental. (Total refusal of Amazon from Bloomberg is available here.)
In May of the same year, Apple discovered unusual network activity and firmware issues, as well as suspicious chips on Supermicro servers. The FBI has been informed, but Apple has not allowed investigators to enter its data centers. In the months that followed, Apple replaced Supermicro servers and severed its ties with the company, despite earlier plans to increase the number of Supermicro servers in its data centers.
Apple has also denied all allegations:
We can be very clear about this: Apple has never found malicious chips, "hardware manipulations" or vulnerabilities created intentionally on a server. (Apple's total refusal of Bloomberg is available here.)
We are deeply disappointed that in their relations with us, Bloomberg journalists have not been open to the possibility that their sources or they are false or misinformed. Our best guess is that they confuse their story with an incident previously reported in 2016 in which we discovered an infected driver on a single Super Micro server in one of our labs. This one-off event was deemed accidental and not a targeted attack on Apple. (Apple's refusal to CNBC.)
Here is the size of an alleged malicious chip compared to a penny:
For the US government, everything started even earlier. According to intelligence sources, China wanted to introduce microchips in the supply chain long before the discoveries made by Amazon and Apple. Bloomberg reports. In the first half of 2014, the White House learned that it was Supermicro motherboards for US companies that the Chinese military was targeting. From there, the US intelligence services went looking for the culprits and found the Chinese suppliers responsible for modifying the original motherboard models:
They [US spies] According to information gathered during the survey, people interviewed in Taiwan and China even followed critical people via their phones. This person finally explained that the malicious chips had been located in four outsourcing factories that had been manufacturing Supermicro motherboards for at least two years.
"Think of Supermicro as Microsoft's hardware world," says a former US intelligence official who studied Supermicro and its business model. "Attacking Supermicro motherboards, it's like attacking Windows. It's like attacking the whole world. "
Supermicro also issued a denial:
We are not aware of such an investigation. (The total refusal of Supermicro to Bloomberg is available here).
After discovering the servers with which these chips interacted, the US intelligence services hacked these computers and concluded that nearly 30 companies were using corrupted hardware, even though there may be more.
But instead of accusing an American company, Supermicro, of selling material that was falsified during production without its knowledge, officials turned to some of its most important customers, pointing out that one could not trust at Supermicro. The object of the game for China was not the theft of personal data of customers (incidents not observed according to a US official). Instead, China wanted direct access to valuable business secrets and sensitive government networks.
In the weeks following a US-China cybersecurity agreement reached in September 2015, the US government informed dozens of technical executives and investors at a meeting at the invitation of the US government. Pentagon in McLean, Virginia, advising them to create commercial products that could detect hardware implants. The name Supermicro was not mentioned, but for some people it was clear who they were referring to.
China has denied the allegations:
China is a strong advocate for cybersecurity.
We hope that parties make accusations and suspicions less free, but lead more constructive discussions and collaboration so that we can work together to build a peaceful, secure, open, cooperative and orderly cyberspace. (China totally refuses to Bloomberg is available here).
Bloomberg says that the case is still going on. In the three years since this meeting, no commercial products to detect hardware backdoors have appeared. "This equipment is at the cutting edge of technology and there is no simple technological solution," says one of McLean members. "You have to invest in things the world wants. You can not invest in things that the world is not yet ready to accept. "
China may deny its involvement in this type of cyber attack, but it is not the only nation-state capable of such attempts. According to reports in 2013, when Snowden leaks were in fashion, US intelligence agencies routinely intercepted hardware and implant bugs before the goods were delivered to customers.
Image Source: Cultura / REX / Shutterstock
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