Security backdoor found in China-made US military chip

reply to post by Nspekta


Explanation: S&F!

Next Elections lets Vote 1 China OK! (by OmegaLogos posted on 8-2-2010 @ 11:07 PM) [abovetopsecret.com]

Repeat your new anthem after me kiddies!

Children: I pledge allegiance to Americaʼs debt, and to the Chinese government that lends us money. And to the interest, for which we pay, compoundable, with higher taxes and lower pay until the day we die.

Personal Disclosure: Behold the FUTURE!

United States owes China!



Those who want to live should get down on their knee's and kowtow NOW!

Because you really shouldn't of gone and me$$ed with a DRAGON ok! :shk:

Honestly, this is crazy. If China did decide to attack it would be like Battle Star Galactica when the cylons attacked and wiped out humanity.

Imagine the threat though, they will just hire one technician and all our birds will fall from the sky.
Another technician will shut down the US´s infrastructure. They would conquer us without a single loss and all remotely.

Why the US military doesn't use military personnel exclusively to develop and manufacture all its stuff is beyond me. At least keep it to US citizens, not slave runners in Asia.

Scary stuff. I wonder just how dumb we have been with these reduced cost parts. It should cost more to be produced in the US. We won't F it up on purpose.

I'd give an arm to see Obama's face when he press the launch button and gets forward to a youtube rick roll video...

Someone should of told Uncle Sam not to f*** with the ninjas...

Explanation: ...



Personal Disclosure: China drinks the USA's milkshake! They DRINK IT UP!

Originally posted by pheonix358
This is the problem that the USA has created. They forced Iran to develop her own weapon manufacturing sector. Now these cannot be turned off!

Not necessarily. Iran wants to enter the profitable market of weapons sales to foreign countries.
On the business end of the deal, wouldn't you make it cheaper and a bit inferior for foreign sales of your military equipment if you were US? After all US manufactured goods from scratch will not be affordable for many countries that purchase their weapons systems. I'm assuming that the chinese version of the chips (Thats IF) are/were used primarily for the export market of the weapons systems.

Just a thought.

reply to post by BIHOTZ

Honestly, this is crazy. If China did decide to attack it would be like Battle Star Galactica when the cylons attacked and wiped out humanity.

No, not really.

The military uses a lot of different chips for a lot of different things. I would imagine that the impact this security vulnerability has on the operational capability of a weapons system is relatively low. They are likely used in the five hundred pieces of support equipment used for every two weapons systems (like an aircraft) in existence.

ONI and NCIS will have reason to decline my security clearance if I fail to mention that I pick up a long-term contact (friends - lovers - doesn't matter) in a foreign country to them. Same for any other military member.

I don't think they would be using foreign made chips in mission-critical systems.

Not saying it's impossible - just that it's not like they are going to have control over our stuff. At worst (best for them) - it sounds as though they might be able to compromise our combat information networks (either by siphoning information off of them, implanting junk information, or 'jamming' them with a variation of a DDOS). But I admit I'm no expert on what this particular chip is capable of and favored for in the industry.

this is what happens when a country stops building and let dumb elected officials tell you to switch to a service based economy lets thank all the presidents since the 70s

Originally posted by proteus33
this is what happens when a country stops building and let dumb elected officials tell you to switch to a service based economy lets thank all the presidents since the 70s

Agree with you on this. Its not like the price of the chips would be any different (atleast not significantly) since they're all manufactured by machines which for the most part are unattended (without much manual labor). Malaysia is a big player in this market (courtesy of the ex-presidents).

China-made US military chip

Anyone else find this hilarious?

Of course the Chinese will do something like this, why wouldn't they. Hahha. I just can't stop laughing.

reading the original article, here, all I can say is that as usual, it has been blown out of context. The JTAG port they found that contains vulnerabilities, is an engineering/testing port. It cannot be used to hijack equipment making use of the specific series of chips. All it means, is that, in case some of the hardware using those chips fall in enemy hands, there is a possibility that the code can be read back from the device. (that sort of hacking using the JTAG port has been going on for many years).

Secondly, it is a standard chip, i.e. used all over, and not only in military equipment. When a chip is military certified, it just means it has a wider temperature operating range, same as chips certified for automotive uses, or for avionic use.

Commercial temperature range is 0 - +70 degrees Centigrade.
Military temperature range is -55 - +125 degrees Centigrade. (257F)

I believe Australia is one of the few reasonable to boycott the Chinese semiconductors/chips...Besides the military, these chips are also in our cars, computers and....nuclear reactors, although i doubt that they could melt 4th or 5th gen reactors.

Given huge amount of money the military is given, why wouldn't they assure an american company has the facility to make their chips? Keeps\ some jobs in america.

If it can go wrong it will.

Personally I'm glad this happened. Good for China, maybe this way those Bozos over at the Pentagon will finally pull their heads out of their backsides and realize that their annual multi-Billion dollar outsourcing to foreign companies and not employing Americans who work for indigenous American companies is a THREAT to national security


MORONS....

Originally posted by Aim64C
reply to post by BIHOTZ

 

No, not really.

The military uses a lot of different chips for a lot of different things. I would imagine that the impact this security vulnerability has on the operational capability of a weapons system is relatively low. They are likely used in the five hundred pieces of support equipment used for every two weapons systems (like an aircraft) in existence.

I hope you're right. Although even if it was in one of the support pieces (and I'm just speculating as I have absolutely minimal military tech knowledge ha) and considering they say that they can be shutdown or reprogrammed because of the backdoor within the chip, might that not potentially threaten the effectiveness of a weapons system? Say an aircraft that is trying to take out incoming Chinese jets, and they can't fire missiles or shoot guns or decellerate, or can't turn left.. it would only have to make the weapon ineffective/malfunction to make a large defensive gap!!

I don't think they would be using foreign made chips in mission-critical systems.

They shouldn't be using any foreign made chips in any system whatsoever!

I don't believe the article states whether it is a company of or for China, or whether it is an American corporation based in China, you know doing government contracts. I see job security on the blood and tears of all Americans and the slave labor of China funding the offset security firms to insure this does not pose a threat. You know, just to control the fear of the citizens. You don't have to understand IT technologies when you see a standard practice set forth from greedy corporations that love taxpayers monies. This has been standard practice of job creation for decades, they don't have to invent from inspiration, they invent from your fear.

There is an old saying...

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Keep in mind that many of the poster here believe that a secretive global consortium is running the show. If that's the case, wouldn't they know about this? They probably would...

Secondly, all goverment procurement is a very tedious process. To become an approved vendor is nothing short of a beaurocratic touchdown.

I guess the short version of what I'm trying to convey is that the US military is not as stupid as many of you, and China, would like to believe. It's called "PSYOPS" for a reason, and our strategists are just as familiar with Sun Tzu as the Chinese are.

reply to post by electricalpup


Are you aware of what it takes for any foreign company to lay down roots in China? The Chinese Government get's a say in the "Who and Whats" this is exactly why Boeing had to really push hard for some sort of autonomy while doing business there and yet, they still [some believe] have given away the store...

pffft....

reply to post by SLAYER69


Exactly... the reason certain software companies will not do business in China is because the Chinese government demands the SOURCE CODE of all software produced in country. No exception.

Most people do not know this. Gotta love communism!!!

Backdoor or not there's still this problem. China is the largest manufacturer of products engineered with a "pre planned adolescence" mentality. Don't think for a second that a military specced product from China is actually manufactured to spec. Our government has known for awhile now that they practice "bait and switch" often. I don't see why the "backdoor" issue would come as a surprise to anyone. I'm sure China is fully aware that producing and manufacturing inferior and fraudulent products is not necessarily a bad thing. I think I would be more surprised if there wasn't a backdoor in the chips they sell us and that they were actually built to last.

Only 271 reports of suspect counterfeit parts were filed with the program in the 2009-2010 period that the Armed Services Committee examined.
China was the source for 70 per cent of the more than 100 incidents of bogus equipment the committee traced back through the supply chain, followed by Britain and Canada, the Senate panel concluded.

The failure of a single electronic part can leave a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine vulnerable at the worst possible time, the report said.

Originally posted by Hellhound604
reading the original article, here, all I can say is that as usual, it has been blown out of context. The JTAG port they found that contains vulnerabilities, is an engineering/testing port. It cannot be used to hijack equipment making use of the specific series of chips. All it means, is that, in case some of the hardware using those chips fall in enemy hands, there is a possibility that the code can be read back from the device. (that sort of hacking using the JTAG port has been going on for many years).

Secondly, it is a standard chip, i.e. used all over, and not only in military equipment. When a chip is military certified, it just means it has a wider temperature operating range, same as chips certified for automotive uses, or for avionic use.

Commercial temperature range is 0 - +70 degrees Centigrade.
Military temperature range is -55 - +125 degrees Centigrade. (257F)

edit on 29/5/2012 by Hellhound604 because: (no reason given)

The article does say that it can be used to shutdown or reprogramme the chip? Are you saying that there is no way to hack into these chips whatsoever while they are in service to manipulate the chip to shutdown or reprogramme? Im asking because I have no idea about the technicals of this kind of stuff