Chinese spies ‘planted tiny microchips into thousands of computers in a bid to steal US secrets’
A probe by Bloomberg alleges the spies targeted up to 30 businesses, including Apple, a big bank and government contractors
CHINESE spies planted tiny microchips into thousands of computers in a bid to steal US secrets, it was claimed last night.
They targeted up to 30 businesses, including Apple, a big bank and government contractors, the Bloomberg probe alleged.
The Department of Defence and CIA drone ops may also have been compromised.
Sources said the chips were put into motherboards at Chinese factories by workers hired by California-based Supermicro.
Bloomberg said Amazon had uncovered the breach in 2015 during a deal to buy start-ups that used Supermicro products.
A government probe was launched and continues.
One ex-US intelligence official told Bloomberg: “Attacking Supermicro motherboards is like attacking the whole world.”
Supermicro said: “We remain unaware of any such investigation.”
Apple denied the claims.