[cse491] [dave at farber.net: [IP] Dangerous Fakes]
C. Titus Brown
ctb at msu.edu
Sat Nov 15 06:52:11 PST 2008
evil chinese hackers indeed!
----- Forwarded message from David Farber <dave at farber.net> -----
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.7 (2006-10-05) on teckla.idyll.org
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.4 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,
DNS_FROM_SECURITYSAGE,FORGED_RCVD_HELO autolearn=no version=3.1.7
From: David Farber <dave at farber.net>
To: ip <ip at v2.listbox.com>
Subject: [IP] Dangerous Fakes
X-Pobox-Relay-ID:
F19CC9DE-B318-11DD-A6CA-9CEDC82D7133-04440718!a-sasl-fastnet.pobox.com
X-Listbox-UUID: F6CD0C0C-B318-11DD-A56D-D5274F59A038
Reply-To: dave at farber.net
List-ID: <ip at v2.listbox.com>
X-Listbox-List-ID: 247 <ip at v2.listbox.com>
List-Software: listbox.com v2.0
List-Help: <http://www.listbox.com/subscription-help.html>
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:unsubscribe-ip at v2.listbox.com>,
<https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=938248&id_secret=120641561-075ec9>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:subscribe-ip at v2.listbox.com>,
<http://www.listbox.com/subscribe/?list_id=247>
Begin forwarded message:
From: dewayne at warpspeed.com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: November 15, 2008 7:18:44 AM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy at warpspeed.com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Dangerous Fakes
[Note: This item comes from friend Tim Pozar. Been sitting on this
item for a bit and am in the process of working thru my backlog. DLH]
October 2, 2008, 5:00PM EST text size: TT
Dangerous Fakes
How counterfeit, defective computer components from China are getting
into U.S. warplanes and ships
by Brian Grow, Chi-Chu Tschang, Cliff Edwards and Brian Burnsed
<http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/08_41/b4103034193886.htm
>
The American military faces a growing threat of potentially fatal
equipment failure?and even foreign espionage?because of counterfeit
computer components used in warplanes, ships, and communication
networks. Fake microchips flow from unruly bazaars in rural China to
dubious kitchen-table brokers in the U.S. and into complex weapons.
Senior Pentagon officials publicly play down the danger, but
government documents, as well as interviews with insiders, suggest
possible connections between phony parts and breakdowns.
In November 2005, a confidential Pentagon-industry program that tracks
counterfeits issued an alert that "BAE Systems experienced field
failures," meaning military equipment malfunctions, which the large
defense contractor traced to fake microchips. Chips are the tiny
electronic circuits found in computers and other gear.
The alert from the Government-Industry Data Exchange Program (GIDEP),
reviewed by BusinessWeek (MHP), said two batches of chips "were never
shipped" by their supposed manufacturer, Maxim Integrated Products in
Sunnyvale, Calif. "Maxim considers these parts to be counterfeit," the
alert states. (In response to BusinessWeek's questions, BAE said the
alert had referred erroneously to field failures. The company denied
there were any malfunctions.)
In a separate incident last January, a chip falsely identified as
having been made by Xicor, now a unit of Intersil in Milpitas, Calif.,
was discovered in the flight computer of an F-15 fighter jet at Robins
Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Ga. People familiar with the
situation say technicians were repairing the F-15 at the time. Special
Agent Terry Mosher of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations
confirms that the 409th Supply Chain Management Squadron eventually
found four counterfeit Xicor chips.
THREAT OF ESPIONAGE
Potentially more alarming than either of the two aircraft episodes are
hundreds of counterfeit routers made in China and sold to the Army,
Navy, Air Force, and Marines over the past four years. These fakes
could facilitate foreign espionage, as well as cause accidents. The
U.S. Justice Dept. is prosecuting the operators of an electronics
distributor in Texas?and last year obtained guilty pleas from the
proprietors of a company in Washington State?for allegedly selling the
military dozens of falsely labeled routers, devices that direct data
through digital networks. The routers were marked as having been made
by the San Jose technology giant Cisco Systems (CSCO).
Referring to the seizure of more than 400 fake routers so far, Melissa
E. Hathaway, head of cyber security in the Office of the Director of
National Intelligence, says: "Counterfeit products have been linked to
the crash of mission-critical networks, and may also contain hidden
'back doors' enabling network security to be bypassed and sensitive
data accessed [by hackers, thieves, and spies]." She declines to
elaborate. In a 50-page presentation for industry audiences, the FBI
concurs that the routers could allow Chinese operatives to "gain
access to otherwise secure systems" (page 38).
[snip]RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress>
-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
----- End forwarded message -----
--
C. Titus Brown, ctb at msu.edu
More information about the cse491-fall-2008
mailing list