Amazon reportedly offloaded its Chinese server business because it was compromised

A major U.S. telecommunications company discovered manipulated hardware from Super Micro Computer Inc. in its network and removed it in August, fresh evidence of tampering in China of critical technology components bound for the U.S., according to a security expert working for the telecom company.

The security expert, Yossi Appleboum, provided documents, analysis and other evidence of the discovery following the publication of an investigative report in Bloomberg Businessweek that detailed how China�s intelligence services had ordered subcontractors to plant malicious chips in Supermicro server motherboards over a two-year period ending in 2015.

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Unusual communications from a Supermicro server and a subsequent physical inspection revealed an implant built into the server�s Ethernet connector, a component that's used to attach network cables to the computer, Appleboum said.

The executive said he has seen similar manipulations of different vendors' computer hardware made by contractors in China, not just products from Supermicro. �Supermicro is a victim -- so is everyone else,� he said. Appleboum said his concern is that there are countless points in the supply chain in China where manipulations can be introduced, and deducing them can in many cases be impossible. �That's the problem with the Chinese supply chain,� he said.