Bloomberg reports Supermicro motherboards sabotaged with Chinese spy hardware

edomalley1 · October 9, 2018, 15:14

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...in-u-s-telecom

Ethernet hardware was modified to allow Chinese hackers access to data on the network that Supermicro server motherboards were connected to.

Supermicro, Apple and others deny the claim.

Bloomberg reports the attacks stopped (as far as they know) after 2015.

I'm receiving a Supermicro server motherboard tomorrow... should I be worried?

flotus1 · October 10, 2018, 08:18

Probably not more worried about security than usual.
If the reported issues turn out to be true (and that is still a big if) it is not an issue exclusive to Supermicro. If the supply chain of SM was compromised, then many other hardware companies will have the same problem. So I would not be particularly worried about a Supermicro motherboard.
So far I have been following this mostly for its entertainment value on multiple levels. Until a tech site comes out with actual proof of the alleged hardware hacks, I remain skeptical.
One of the sources is already distancing himself from the way Bloomberg threw Supermicro under the bus: https://www.servethehome.com/yossi-a...st-supermicro/

edomalley1 · October 10, 2018, 12:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by flotus1

One of the sources is already distancing himself from the way Bloomberg threw Supermicro under the bus: https://www.servethehome.com/yossi-a...st-supermicro/

Yeah - I think a careful read of the Bloomberg article gives the impression that it is a system-wide problem, not just Supermicro. And while I guess in the back of my mind the pervasiveness of this problem seems obvious and expected, the way the article you link to lays it all out there is pretty troubling. This is a very very difficult problem to solve.

October 9, 2018, 15:14	Bloomberg reports Supermicro motherboards sabotaged with Chinese spy hardware	#1
edomalley1 Member Ed O'Malley Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 30 Rep Power: 8	https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...in-u-s-telecom Ethernet hardware was modified to allow Chinese hackers access to data on the network that Supermicro server motherboards were connected to. Supermicro, Apple and others deny the claim. Bloomberg reports the attacks stopped (as far as they know) after 2015. I'm receiving a Supermicro server motherboard tomorrow... should I be worried?

October 10, 2018, 08:18		#2
flotus1 Super Moderator Alex Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 3,399 Rep Power: 46	Probably not more worried about security than usual. If the reported issues turn out to be true (and that is still a big if) it is not an issue exclusive to Supermicro. If the supply chain of SM was compromised, then many other hardware companies will have the same problem. So I would not be particularly worried about a Supermicro motherboard. So far I have been following this mostly for its entertainment value on multiple levels. Until a tech site comes out with actual proof of the alleged hardware hacks, I remain skeptical. One of the sources is already distancing himself from the way Bloomberg threw Supermicro under the bus: https://www.servethehome.com/yossi-a...st-supermicro/ Last edited by flotus1; October 10, 2018 at 11:24.