DHS says no reason to doubt Chinese companies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US Department of Homeland Security said Saturday there was no reason to doubt the statements of companies who denied a Bloomberg report that their supply chains would be compromised by malicious computer chips inserted by the Chinese intelligence services.

"The Department of Homeland Security is aware of media reports of a compromise on the technology supply chain," DHS said in a statement.

"Like our partners in the UK, the National Cybersecurity Center, we have no reason at this time to doubt the statements of the companies named in the article," he said.

Bloomberg Businessweek on Thursday quoted 17 sources of intelligence and unidentified companies, saying that Chinese spies had placed chips in equipment used by some 30 companies, as well as by many US government agencies, which would give Beijing a secret access internal networks.

The UK cyber security agency said on Friday that it had no reason to doubt Apple Inc.'s (AAPL.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) challenge the report.

Apple on Thursday challenged the Bloomberg report, claiming that its own internal investigations were unsupported by allegations and that neither the company nor its contacts with law enforcement were aware of a possible investigation. FBI on the question.

Apple's general counsel, Bruce Sewell, who has just retired, told Reuters that he had called the FBI's general counsel at the time, James Baker , after being informed by Bloomberg of an open investigation on Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI.PK), a computer hardware manufacturer whose Bloomberg products have been implanted with malicious Chinese chips.

"I phoned him personally and said," Do you know anything about this? Sewell said about his conversation with Baker. "He said," I've never heard of that, but give me 24 hours to be sure. "He reminded me 24 hours later and said, "No one here knows what this story is about."

Baker and the FBI declined to comment on Friday.