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The three tech giants have all published statements on their websites refuting the report, while Bloomberg is sticking by their story.
The DHS statement reads in part:
The Department of Homeland Security is aware of the media reports of a technology supply chain compromise. Like our partners in the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre, at this time we have no reason to doubt the statements from the companies named in the story. Information and communications technology supply chain security is core to DHS's cybersecurity mission and we are committed to the security and integrity of the technology on which Americans and others around the world increasingly rely.
On Thursday, Apple contested the Bloomberg report, saying that their own internal investigation had found no evidence of the spy chips, and that neither the company nor their law enforcement contacts were aware of any FBI investigation into the matter.
Apple's recently retired general counsel, Bruce Sewell, told Reuters he called the FBI's then-general counsel, James Baker, last year after being told by Bloomberg of an open investigation of Super Micro Computer, a hardware maker whose products Bloomberg said were implanted with malicious Chinese chips.
"I got on the phone with him personally and said, 'Do you know anything about this?," Sewell said of his conversation with Baker. "He said, 'I've never heard of this, but give me 24 hours to make sure.' He called me back 24 hours later and said 'Nobody here knows what this story is about.'" -CNBC
Multiple Apple sources, "three of them very senior executives," told BuzzFeed News: "We tried to figure out if there was anything, anything, that transpired that’s even remotely close to this … We found nothing."
A senior security engineer directly involved in Apple’s internal investigation described it as “endoscopic,” noting they had never seen a chip like the one described in the story, let alone found one. “I don’t know if something like this even exists,” this person said, noting that Apple was not provided with a malicious chip or motherboard to examine. “We were given nothing. No hardware. No chips. No emails.”
Equally puzzling to Apple execs is the assertion that it was party to an FBI investigation — Bloomberg wrote that Apple “reported the incident to the FBI.” A senior Apple legal official told BuzzFeed News the company had not contacted the FBI, nor had it been contacted by the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, or any government agency in regards to the incidents described in the Bloomberg report. This person’s purview and responsibilities are of such a high level that it’s unlikely they would not have been aware of government outreach. -BuzzFeed
The Bloomberg report claims that there is an ongoing government investigation into China's use of a "tiny microchip" that found its way into servers that were widely used throughout the US military and intelligence infrastructure, from Navy warships to DoD server farms. The probe began three years ago after the US intelligence agencies were tipped off by Amazon. And three years later, it remains ongoing.
Nested on the servers’ motherboards, the testers found a tiny microchip, not much bigger than a grain of rice, that wasn’t part of the boards’ original design. Amazon reported the discovery to U.S. authorities, sending a shudder through the intelligence community. Elemental’s servers could be found in Department of Defense data centers, the CIA’s drone operations, and the onboard networks of Navy warships. And Elemental was just one of hundreds of Supermicro customers.
During the ensuing top-secret probe, which remains open more than three years later, investigators determined that the chips allowed the attackers to create a stealth doorway into any network that included the altered machines. Multiple people familiar with the matter say investigators found that the chips had been inserted at factories run by manufacturing subcontractors in China.
More:
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-07/homeland-security-backs-apple-amazon-denial-chinese-spy-chip-infiltration
The Interpol chief who went missing last week has resigned his post after it emerged he is being questioned by Chinese authorities, the international police agency said.
The announcement came shortly after China confirmed it is holding Meng Hongwei, who has been missing for days, and his wife revealed he sent her an image of a knife before he disappeared as a sign that he was in danger.
"Today, Sunday 7 October, (at) the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon, France received the resignation of Mr Meng Hongwei as President of Interpol with immediate effect," Interpol said in a statement late on Sunday. It did not give a reason for the resignation.
The agency said South Korean national Kim Jong Yang would becomes its acting president, while it would appoint a new president at a Nov 18-21 meeting of the organisation in Dubai.
Earlier, China's new anti-corruption body said authorities were investigating Mr Meng, who is also a vice minister of public security in China, for suspected violations of the law.
The National Supervision Commission, which is also the ruling Communist party’s watchdog for political disloyalty, did not specify what the alleged violations were.
Its statement was the first from China since Mr Meng's disappearance was reported on Friday in France, where Interpol is based in the city of Lyon and where Mr Meng was living with his wife and children.
French prosecutors opened an investigation last week after his wife Grace went to local police to report him missing, saying she had not heard from him since he left for China in late September.
Mrs Meng, who has been placed under police protection after receiving threats, held a press conference in Lyon on Sunday and told reporters said she had not heard from her 64-year-old husband husband since September 25.
She said he sent her the knife image that day, four minutes after he sent a message that said: "Wait for my call."
But the call never came and she said she does not know what happened to her husband, who in recent months appears to have fallen out of favour with the ruling party in Beijing.
Mrs Meng urged national governments to intervene, saying she feared that her husband's life was in danger.
She kept her back turned to the reporters at the press conference, and refused to be photographed out of fear for her safety.
"I have gone from sorrow and fear to the pursuit of truth, justice, and responsibility toward history," she said.
"For the husband whom I deeply love, for my young children, for the people of my motherland, for all the wives and children's husbands and fathers to no longer disappear," she said.
It was about an hour later that China’s National Supervision Commission issued its statement confirming Mr Meng had been detained.
Several high ranking Chinese officials, wealthy businessmen and celebrities have disappeared without explanation since Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, launched a sweeping anti-corruption campaign after coming to power in 2012.
About 1.5 million government officials have been punished for wrongdoing in the crackdown, which critics say is an excuse for President Xi to target political enemies and punish disloyalty.
Mr Meng was elected to a four year term as president of Interpol in 2016.
He is the first Chinese national to hold the post and had been one of Beijing's top law enforcement officials, overseeing the country's coastguard and counter-terrorism efforts, as well as international police cooperation.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/missing-interpol-chief-apos-sent-181456359.html
A top Vatican official issued a fiery denunciation of allegations that Pope Francis covered up sexual misconduct in the Catholic Church Sunday.
It is a "monstrous" and "even blasphemous" accusation, Cardinal Marc Ouellet wrote in a letter addressed to Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano. Ouellet was responding to Vigano's accusations that Francis knew about and covered up alleged sex abuse by ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
Vigano brought forward the allegation against Francis and other high ranking Vatican officials six weeks ago.
McCarrick was barred from publicly continuing his duties in August after Church officials deemed allegations that he sexually abused a minor to be "credible." He has denied the allegations.
Ouellet said in his letter Sunday that there was no evidence to back the cover-up claim against Francis.
He also confirmed for the first time that McCarrick was subject to disciplinary measures. Ouellet specified that the discipline was only an exhortation to live a quiet life of prayer that stopped short of a formal reprobation.
Vigano previously alleged that McCarrick had been sexually active with seminarians and was subsequently disciplined by Pope Benedict XVI. The archbishop claimed that Francis ignored McCarrick's record of sexual misconduct and rehabilitated him to be a powerful member of the church.
Last month, a 2006 letter from a top Vatican official to a New York priest emerged that indicated that the Vatican knew of allegations about McCarrick's sexual misconduct. It is unclear if the pope knew about the letter.
Francis has refused to confirm or deny Vigano's allegations, saying the letter "speaks for itself" and "I won't say a word about it."
Ouellet defended the Pope Sunday, saying, "Francis had nothing to do with the promotion of McCarrick to New York, Metuchen, Newark or Washington."
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/410309-vatican-denounces-accusation-against-pope-as-blasphemous-but