Chinese spy chip: Four more reasons to believe Apple's denial
9to5mac.com
9to5mac.com
1) From Apple, which has already made their position clear, so it's just repeating that essentially, although the forum is different.
2) & 3) From government agencies that are specifically tasked with deception when needed.
plus a report about what Brian Krebs said, which highlighted him saying that nobody should draw conclusions about the merit of the story based on the fact that he found nothing. Here's the quote: "I heard similar allegations earlier this year about Supermicro and tried mightily to verify them but could not. That in itself should be zero gauge of the story’s potential merit."
So four "reasons" that really aren't.
Although I do tend to believe Apple on this, the four reasons listed in the fine article do not add much. I'm surprised the author gave this such a breathless tone. His earlier opinion piece (https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/05/chinese-spy-chip/) gives better reasons to believe Apple.
1. There really was a supply chain attack, but Apple and AWS did not detect it.
2. Trump Administration staff worked with Bloomberg reporters on an domestic propaganda piece to expose the attack in a public way amid China-US trade war.
3. They blundered coordination of their strategic communications, not expecting companies to question the story.
This allows us to consistently believe that:
a. There was a supply chain attack.
b. The companies mentioned were not those who detected it.
c. Intelligence and Tech have different perspectives/stories.
d. All actors/parties are acting in a way consistent with their missions, objectives, and incentives.