Apple CEO Tim Cook calls on Bloomberg to retract spy chip story
Apple CEO Tim Cook is calling for Bloomberg to retract its story about Chinese spies planting chips in the company’s hardware, telling BuzzFeed News, that it’s completely false.
"I feel they should retract their story. There is no truth in their story about Apple. They need to do that right thing,” Cook said Thursday.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg Businessweek published an investigation that alleged Chinese spies had compromised some 30 U.S.-based companies, including Apple and Amazon, by implanting chips into their servers when they were being manufactured in China.
The explosive reported cites “extensive interviews with government and corporate sources” who say Apple even discovered some sabotaged hardware in 2015 and promptly cut ties with the chip supplier Supermicro and then reported the incident to the FBI.
The report alluded that the chips still allowed the attackers to a create “a stealth doorway” into the company network and others in which they were embedded into.
Apple from the start has vehemently denied the report and even issued a statement earlier this month, that it has “repeatedly explained to Bloomberg reporters and editors over the past 12 months, that there is no truth to these claims.”
Still, Bloomberg hold steadfast on its story and even published a follow-up account that furthered its original claims.
What’s notable, however, is that this is the first time Cook and Apple have publicly called for a retraction of a story.
While a Bloomberg spokesperson did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment, the outlet told BuzzFeed it is still sticking by its story.
“Bloomberg Businessweek's investigation is the result of more than a year of reporting, during which we conducted more than 100 interviews,” a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News in response to a series of questions. “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.”
Even FBI director Christopher Wray cautioned lawmakers to “be careful what you read” when asked about the report during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing earlier this month.