Apple chief
executive Tim Cook has called for the retraction of a story alleging Chinese
infiltration in its and other major firms' infrastructure.
Bloomberg’s
Businessweek published a story which said malicious chips were built into
servers that had been manufactured in China.
But in an
unprecedented step, Mr Cook told Buzzfeed: "They need to do that right
thing and retract it.”
Businessweek
has said it stands by its reporting.
"Bloomberg
Businessweek's investigation is the result of more than a year of reporting,
during which we conducted more than 100 interviews,” the publication said in a
statement.
“Seventeen
individual sources, including government officials and insiders at the
companies, confirmed the manipulation of hardware and other elements of the
attacks.
"We
also published three companies’ full statements, as well as a statement from
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"We
stand by our story and are confident in our reporting and sources.”
Businessweek’s
story, published earlier this month, sent shockwaves around the technology
industry, but almost immediately provoked an unequivocal backlash from the
companies said to be affected.
What’s left
is an intense stand-off between a magazine famed for its thorough
fact-checking, and companies that have offered their denials in the firmest of
terms.
In Apple’s
case, it’s the first time the company has publicly called for the retraction of
a story.
"We
turned the company upside down,” Mr Cook told Buzzfeed.
“Email
searches, data centre records, financial records, shipment records. We really
forensically whipped through the company to dig very deep and each time we came
back to the same conclusion: This did not happen. There’s no truth to this.”
Apple’s
denials are matched by its peers in the industry - such as Amazon - and also by
government agencies in the US and globally.
“The
Department of Homeland Security is aware of the media reports of a technology
supply chain compromise,” a department spokesman shared in a statement.
"Like
our partners in the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre, at this time we
have no reason to doubt the statements from the companies named in the
story."
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