We have witnessed a gigantic international scandal related to the mass surveillance of Chinese services of many of the largest US corporations.
Bloomberg reports that the Chinese managed to control the production of key server components for the needs of the 30 largest US technology companies. Among them were Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft, and even state agencies FBI and CIA. Spy microchips were added to the hardware during production and submission of servers. They could invigilate the entire activity of companies without interruption for the last few years, providing the authorities of the Middle Kingdom with extremely valuable, strategic information about the company's activities and their products.
What's unusual, Chinese services appeared in person in factories, where equipment for technology giants was manufactured, and forced its authorities and employees to install spy systems. The whole practice only came to light now, although probably the first premises appeared a few years ago, but were kept secret for the sake of the matter. Recently, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, officially banned the use of Chinese company technology in US government agencies, explaining this to the massive espionage of the Middle Kingdom.
We also learn that microchips disrupted the servers of the giants. Interestingly, the attacks were conducted by the world-famous company Super Micro Computer Inc., which is a global pioneer in the production of motherboards, and its equipment is found in most computers around the world. The worst is that hospitals, banks, government agencies and private companies operating in different countries are still vulnerable to such attacks.
Bloomberg reports that Apple and Amazon have detected spy devices on their servers during the inspection, but they are officially cutting off the case and apparently want to put the whole affair under the carpet. Probably, hundreds or even thousands of companies that were not even aware of this fact could be monitored and targeted around the world. For now, it is not known whether the data of giants users fell into the hands of the Chinese services, because the American corporations took water in their mouths, but we can be sure that this happened.
Surveillance also concerned US government agencies. Elemental, which provides technologies for the needs of the Air Force and Navy, and specifically for drones and submarines, reported that some time ago it used motherboards from Super Micro Computer Inc. This equipment was the one provided by the NSA intelligence agency.