Skip to main content

Apple CEO demands Bloomberg retract its Chinese surveillance story

Apple had long denied that it had purchased compromised servers manufactured in China that would have made it a victim to government surveillance after Bloomberg Businessweek broke the story, and now CEO Tim Cook is demanding the publication to retract its report. The publication alleged that the compromised servers, discovered as early as 2015, would have given China a backdoor into the private networks of U.S. corporations and government agencies and that Apple had severed its relationship with San Jose, California-based Super Micro as a result of this breach of trust.

“I feel they should retract their story,” Cook told Buzzfeed about the Bloomberg story. “There is no truth in their story about Apple. They need to do that right thing.” Cook also took issue at lack of evidence in Bloomberg’s report. Cook said that Bloomberg reporters did not provide his company with specific details about the chips that were alleged to have been discovered and removed.

Recommended Videos

Following Bloomberg’s report, Apple conducted a thorough internal investigation, with Cook claiming that Apple “turned the company upside down.” Ultimately, Apple was unable to find any evidence after “email searches, data center records, financial records, shipment records.”

“I was involved in our response to this story from the beginning,” Cook told Buzzfeed. “I personally talked to the Bloomberg reporters along with Bruce Sewell, who was then our general counsel. We were very clear with them that this did not happen, and answered all their questions. Each time they brought this up to us, the story changed, and each time we investigated we found nothing.”

Bloomberg claimed that Apple, Amazon, and as many as 30 U.S. businesses and government agencies, had purchased compromised servers from Super Micro that contained an embedded chip allowing Chinese surveillance. Apple, Amazon, and Super Micro also refuted Bloomberg’s story following their own internal investigations.

Cook’s denial mirrors earlier statements released by Apple Vice President of Information Security George Stathakopoulos in a prior letter sent to U.S. lawmakers addressing the issue.

“Apple’s proprietary security tools are continuously scanning for precisely this kind of outbound traffic, as it indicates the existence of malware or other malicious activity. Nothing was ever found,” he wrote in the letter to both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, quoted by Reuters. Apple’s assertions were previously supported by Britain’s Cyber Security Center and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Bloomberg defended its story, noting that its report was a result of more than a year of investigation and conducting more than 100 interviews. “Seventeen individual sources, including government officials and insiders at the companies, confirmed the manipulation of hardware and other elements of the attacks,” Bloomberg Businessweek told Buzzfeed. “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.”

Updated on October 19, 2018: Apple CEO Tim Cook refutes the Bloomberg story, demands a retraction. 

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
Does your Mac need antivirus software in 2024? We asked the experts
A hacker typing on an Apple MacBook laptop while holding a phone. Both devices show code on their screens.

It’s an age-old question among Apple fans: Does your Mac need antivirus software? Traditionally, the popular answer has been no -- Macs have strong built-in protections, the argument goes, and antivirus apps can potentially slow down your computer. In the end, the trade-off didn’t seem to be worth it.

But is that still true today? After all, Macs are increasingly becoming a target of cybercriminals, with some Mac malware strains supposedly even being created by nation states. In that kind of situation, has the game changed?

Read more
Apple already has its next big chip, but you may never see it
Apple Mac Studio top down view showing PC and keyboard.

Apple’s M3 series of chips has been a major improvement over what came before it, with users feeling the benefits across the Mac range. The only chip missing from the lineup is the M3 Ultra, which is reserved for Apple’s high-end Mac Studio and Mac Pro devices.

We’ve been hearing that Apple is thinking of shifting to an annual release cycle for its Mac chips, and with the M2 Ultra having made its debut in June 2023, everyone has been gearing up to see the M3 edition launching this summer.

Read more
Apple is already planning its next big thing after the Vision Pro
A person wearing the Apple Vision Pro demo unit in an Apple Store.

The Vision Pro headset is Apple’s most significant new product in years, and it is widely seen as the company’s “next big thing.” But Apple isn’t resting on its laurels, as a new report has highlighted the products that the company hopes will shake up the market in similarly momentous ways. And no, we’re not talking about a second-generation Vision Pro.

Among the devices Apple is secretly working on are a set of smartglasses, a health and fitness ring, and even a pair of souped-up AirPods with cameras and advanced sensors. All of these products are designed to capture customer attention and help Apple turn the ship around after a disappointing year of declining sales.

Read more