|
BLOG
|
US NAVY BOUGHT FAKE CHINESE MICROCHIPS THAT COULD BE REMOTELY SHUT DOWN
Posted in Blog Archive
Posted by abeodbart June 28, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Posted in Blog Archive
Posted by abeodbart June 28, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Last year, the U.S. Navy bought 59,000 microchips for use in everything from missiles to transponders and all of them turned out to be counterfeits from China. Wired reports the chips weren’t only low-quality fakes, they had been made with a “back-door” and could have been remotely shut down at any time.
If left undiscovered the result could have rendered useless U.S. missiles and killed the signal from aircraft that tells everyone whether it’s friend or foe. Apparently foreign chip makers are often better at making cheap microchips and U.S. defense contractors are loathe to pass up the better deal.
The problem remains with these “trojan-horse” circuits that can be built into the chip and are almost impossible to detect — especially without the original plans to compare them to.
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA) is now looking for ways to check the chips to make sure they haven’t been hacked in the production process.
Full story at Business Insider
|
RECENT
COMMENTS |
Anon
I was wondering of there's an age restriction to this show?
Msg from Abeo: The performance will not be suitable for under 12’s.
Thistooshallpass
We were lucky enough to see Infamous last night and hubby thought this particular show was the best tour so far. We usually spend the car ride home discussing what we’ve experienced and how Derren fooled us but this show is so cleverly put together we were stumped as to how a lot of things could possibly be achieved.
Derren was on top form never missing a beat, he’s always had the talent and ability to entertain his audience but this show will emotionally engage you from the very beginning …you just can’t help but be moved by some of the things he does and says……I’m not going to say anymore as Derren always asks us to “keep the show’s content a secret” and I would hate to spoil it for other people especially as Derren’s performance always stays with me long after the show has “ left town” and I know a lot of people feel the same way.
@ Robert Perkins …yep I agree…we had to resort to eBay this year but I’m so glad we did ….it was well worth it. Have you tried to get tickets for London? Compared to some of the ebay prices it may work out cheaper.
We both fell in love with Oxford by the way…awesome place beautiful atmosphere.
Sue and Paul
Christopher Robinson
Good to see Derren and Andy on a project together again. Anyone know if it will it be filmed (for those of us not in the UK)?
Paul
This is going to be special, mark my words (not like the other ones weren't) get in fast. You'll be infamous.
|
ARCHIVE
|
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
July 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
September 2008
Even the military can’t find reputable sources in China.
Read the original Wired story and you’ll see Business Insider have misunderstood. There’s no evidence they’ve *actually been sold* chips you can remotely shut down – they’re just investigating how to be more confident they can prevent such a thing from happening in future.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/06/chips-oy-spies-want-to-hack-proof-circuits/
I think my laptop has one of those circuits in it; it keeps shutting down whenever it fancies too.
I heard about counterfeit Cisco equipment making its way into government agencies some time ago:
http://blogs.cisco.com/news/cisco_statement_on_counterfeit_goods/
How cool is that if you want to spy on people? Just sell them the surveillance equipment and they’ll install it for you!
Hasn’t China been building their military and Navy up? WWIII?
“The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA) is now looking for ways to check the chips”
Just tell the makers, that you have accidentally launched a tomahawk directed straight at them? Or alternatively, request that their engineers submit to interview under MRI scan.
We should we be surprised? Isn’t this the ultimate result of globalisation?
Cheap nock-offs sure but remote shutdown in ICs, naah hardly the case. It would require an enormous transmitter because receivers on chips without proper antennas often encased in metal cases do not do a great job receiving signals.
The cheap nock-offs and counterfeit hardware is a huge problem though. Just the other week a hacker challenge was one by rigging a wireless logitech mouse and sending it as a gift to the targeted company and the trojan was loaded into the servers and opened the ‘gates’.
As a government or financial institution you will need to thoroughly track the sources of your hardware perhaps again create military grade hardware that has been tracked from A-Z and has extreme specs.