Bloomberg

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One Year Later: Bloomberg Hasn't Retracted its iCloud Spy Chip Story

Andrew Orr · · Add Comment

This story doesn’t need me piling on, but I think it’s astounding that a media organization with integrity, gravitas, etc. etc. still hasn’t retracted its debunked theory one year later. And the journalists who wrote the story are now in charge of Bloomberg‘s cybersecurity division. If by some miracle we learn that there really are spy chips I will most certainly apologize. But with zero evidence, I think that probability is low.

There’s been a lot of smoke, but no firings. Quite the opposite. It’s been a year since Bloomberg Businessweek published an extensively debunked story claiming that companies including Apple and Amazon had been hacked. Yet since then, all of Bloomberg‘s few responses and actions have only doubled down on how this publication lacks credibility on the topic.

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Vodafone Denies Huawei Italy ‘Backdoor’

Andrew Orr · · Add Comment

A report from Bloomberg says software flaws found in Vodafone’s Huawei equipment back in 2011-2012 were backdoors. Vodafone, while admitting that the equipment did have security flaws, denies that Huawei could have used them as such.

The issues in Italy identified in the Bloomberg story were all resolved and date back to 2011 and 2012. The ‘backdoor’ that Bloomberg refers to is Telnet, which is a protocol that is commonly used by many vendors in the industry for performing diagnostic functions. It would not have been accessible from the internet. Bloomberg is incorrect in saying that this ‘could have given Huawei unauthorised access to the carrier’s fixed-line network in Italy’.

The BBC article is worth the read. Also keep in mind that this isn’t the first time Bloomberg has reported on alleged backdoors by a Chinese company. They provided no evidence the first time and so far have refused to issue a retraction.