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Security backdoor found in China-made US military chip
Information Age ^ | May 28, 2012 | staff

Posted on 05/28/2012 7:52:40 PM PDT by Pelham

Cambridge University researchers find that a microprocessor used by the US military but made in China contains secret remote access capability

A microchip used by the US military and manufactured in China contains a secret "backdoor" that means it can be shut off or reprogrammed without the user knowing, according to researchers at Cambridge University's Computing Laboratory.

The unnamed chip, which the researchers claim is widely used in military and industrial applications, is "wide open to intellectual property theft, fraud and reverse engineering of the design to allow the introduction of a backdoor or Trojan", they said.

The discovery was made during testing of a new technique to extract the encryption key from chips, developed by Cambridge spin-off Quo Vadis Labs.

The "bug" is in the actual chip itself, rather than the firmware installed on the devices that use it. This means there is no way to fix it than to replace the chip altogether.

"The discovery of a backdoor in a military grade chip raises some serious questions about hardware assurance in the semiconductor industry," wrote Cambridge University researcher Sergei Skorobogatov and Quo Vadis Labs research Christopher Woods in a draft paper.

"It also raises some searching questions about the integrity of manufacturers making claims about [the] security of their products without independent testing."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Conspiracy; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: china; computerchip; military; threatmatrix; trojan
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1 posted on 05/28/2012 7:52:52 PM PDT by Pelham
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To: Pelham

“A microchip used by the US military and manufactured in China “

Gee, what could go wrong?


2 posted on 05/28/2012 7:55:53 PM PDT by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: nuconvert

The benefits of globalism.


3 posted on 05/28/2012 7:57:33 PM PDT by DonaldC (A nation cannot stand in the absence of religious principle.)
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To: Pelham

HUAWEI Don’t trust ANYTHING with HUAWEI chips in it!

CTV News | Australia bans Huawei from Web networkwww.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article2381651.htmlYou +1’d this publicly. Undo
Australia has banned Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies Ltd. from bidding to ... to expand in the United States might aid Chinese electronic spying.


4 posted on 05/28/2012 7:59:29 PM PDT by WellyP (REAL)
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To: Pelham

No kidding...that’s such a surprise. The Chinese using an OPEN opportunity to spy on us. Who could have seen that coming?

This administration has the intelligence of an amoeba. That’s ONE amoeba.


5 posted on 05/28/2012 7:59:47 PM PDT by madison10 (The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. TJ)
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To: Pelham

Kinda like what happens in this book http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005G4PUAK/ref=docs-os-doi_0

“At exactly midnight on December 31, every electronic device made in China for the last 30 years stops working.

From the U.S. electrical grid and all its back-ups, engine control-management systems, early warning systems on U.S. satellites, every motor vehicle, aircraft and ship made after 1985, to even simple memory chips inside children’s teddy bears—every electronic fuse, resistor, or connector that was “Made in China” becomes dormant… forever.

At one minute past midnight on January 1st, every modern television broadcast of the U.S. New Year’s Eve festivities on the East Coast black-out. Millions of motor vehicles with an engine management system or engine-computerized system suddenly die, causing loss of control and thousands of accidents only seconds into the New Year. Traffic lights, directional beacons, communication stations, and all aircraft landing systems black out a couple of minutes later, as their modern back-ups start failing. Children’s Christmas presents, nearly forgotten, stop buzzing, moving, and blinking and go silent. Radios, computers, and all forms of electronic communication devices—even the latest 132 million electronic Christmas presents given only a week earlier (iPhone 5Gs, IPod Nano 4s, IMac Notepads and iPad 3s) go silent, never to blink on again. Ninety seconds after midnight, the entire electrical grid of North America deactivates itself and goes into close-down mode.

The shutdown of the United States of America, and 97% of the entire world, is accomplished by 12:30 am U.S. Eastern time on the first day of the New Year.”


6 posted on 05/28/2012 7:59:55 PM PDT by The Chief (Newt 2012!)
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To: Pelham
"The unnamed chip, which the researchers claim is widely used in military and industrial applications..."

Uh, we could use some serious transparency here.

7 posted on 05/28/2012 8:00:03 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2

Top of the list is HUAWEI!


8 posted on 05/28/2012 8:05:25 PM PDT by WellyP (REAL)
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To: Pelham; a fool in paradise; Slings and Arrows
The chips being the size that they are that door must have been real tiny. I know that Chinamen are kinda short but Hu could fit through?


9 posted on 05/28/2012 8:07:11 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: Pelham

Nothing effective will be done. China will be allowed to get away with most anything and not only because they buy our government’s debt. It’s the inherent stupidity and utopian nonsense associated with globalism that has short-circuited the brains of all too many Westerners. Little short of a mass launching of ICBMs by China would open the eyes of most of them. And that wouldn’t open the eyes of all of them.


10 posted on 05/28/2012 8:07:11 PM PDT by Will88
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To: Pelham
Apropos computer chips.


11 posted on 05/28/2012 8:08:27 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: Pelham; Sirius Lee; lilycicero; MaryLou1; glock rocks; JPG; Monkey Face; RIghtwardHo; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.


12 posted on 05/28/2012 8:08:27 PM PDT by narses
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To: Pelham
Must have been the same moron that said, “We'll let the Soviets build our new embassy building, then clean it out when their done because it'll save money in the long run...”.

Must of been some of them there chips in that there drone that landed on an Iranian airfield.

Leon Pinetta must have a heck of a lot of money stored away in Swiss, er, Chinese, er American sold to the Chinese, bank accounts.

Seriously, anybody who does not believe we are so screwed when China and Russia decide it's time to take our rescources, raise their hand...or text with their Iphone...

13 posted on 05/28/2012 8:13:42 PM PDT by Dogbert41 ("...The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God" Zech. 12:5)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; ...

Thanks Pelham.


14 posted on 05/28/2012 8:15:05 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Will88

“China will be allowed to get away with most anything....”

.
Same policy that we use with Islam.

America just loooooooves its enemies.


15 posted on 05/28/2012 8:20:02 PM PDT by 353FMG
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To: narses

I wish we knew what kind of chip it was. If it was a microprocessor, all modern high-complexity chips have “microcode” - basically, a cpu within a cpu - that allow instructions that are supposed to be executed in hardware (transistors, logic gates, etc) with a patch of instructions. Both AMD and Intel have routinely patched their chips with BIOS upgrades that first load any microcode revisions before starting up. It wouldn’t take much of a stretch to design “poisoned” microcode.

On the other hand, there was an illegal instruction (an unimplemented op code) on the Motorola 6800 that put the bus in an illegal state and locked the chip up so that it needed a power-on or hard reset - the infamous HCF (Halt and Catch Fire) instruction.


16 posted on 05/28/2012 8:24:19 PM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: madison10
Surprised? Not at all. I'd have been surprised if someone did a survey of chips/equipment made in China and found that none of them had "extra features."

Chips and systems are incredibly complex, and the means of extracting information from them so subtle it is insanity to use a potential adversary as a source.

17 posted on 05/28/2012 8:24:35 PM PDT by ThunderSleeps (Stop obama now! Stop the hussein - insane agenda!)
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To: Pelham

The Nazi’s tried slave labor during WW II and hte results were not good for them.

For the US to allow anyone outside of America to make critical military equipment is either deliberate treaon or terminal stupidity.

My suggestion: Defund welfare for urban sluts, urban feralsa, ad nauseam. Spend the encessary money to keep our military #1 - that means making the weapons here and without any foreigners in the factories or the entire supply train.

Wanna bet the Muslims and Messicans are already planning and stealing weapons, and worse?

Wanna bet your children’s freedom?


18 posted on 05/28/2012 8:30:55 PM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."...the public interest)
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To: The Chief; Ezekiel
“At exactly midnight on December 31, every electronic device made in China for the last 30 years stops working.

Jeremiah 51

36 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

“See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry. 37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives. 38 Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs.

39 But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter— then sleep forever and not awake,” declares the Lord.

40 “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.

***

I'd wait till 4/5 AM...Tick tock...

19 posted on 05/28/2012 8:31:26 PM PDT by Jeremiah Jr (Chi ha-Olamim)
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To: Pelham; nuconvert
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PLjNWOu-Zn0/ScpgE7diU0I/AAAAAAAAAd4/MR8l5f9sDtY/s400/shocked+to+find+gaming.jpg

Shocked I tell you!

20 posted on 05/28/2012 8:33:30 PM PDT by KC_Lion (I am finished with listening to empty promises of the great GOP saving me in 4 more years.)
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