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AnonFTW
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AnonFTW

Anon

FUD

This is pure FUD aimed at protecting American business interests. If the Chinese companies were really planting backdoors into their hardware, how difficult do you think it would be to detect? The new Apple A6 was torn down, completely dissected, and mapped out in a matter of days by hobby sites using decades old technology. It would be trivial for the government to determine if this was taking place.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

said by AnonFTW :

If the Chinese companies were really planting backdoors into their hardware, how difficult do you think it would be to detect?

Why do you think the IC is recommending US companies avoid some of these Chinese companies?

LightS
Premium Member
join:2005-12-17
Greenville, TX

LightS

Premium Member

Exactly. Once a US company builds it, it might be less likely for the same hardware to be dissected.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Huh?

LightS
Premium Member
join:2005-12-17
Greenville, TX

LightS

Premium Member

I figure, once the stuff is built here, there may be a bit less uncertainty regarding spying techniques.

Basically, they may say, "Oh, well since it's built here, why dissect it? We trust 'em!"

Hope not, though. But you never know..

AnonFTW
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AnonFTW to openbox9

Anon

to openbox9
said by openbox9:

said by AnonFTW :

If the Chinese companies were really planting backdoors into their hardware, how difficult do you think it would be to detect?

Why do you think the IC is recommending US companies avoid some of these Chinese companies?

To protect the revenues of American vendors. The US Telecom market is the most profitable (per ARPU) in the entire world. We don't want the Chinese moving in, slashing profit margins, and forcing the US companies to actually compete.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9 to LightS

Premium Member

to LightS
Maybe a little less concern, but I imagine the reviews will still happen...especially for critical infrastructure hardware/software.
openbox9

openbox9 to AnonFTW

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to AnonFTW
Perhaps you missed what Carlos Slim is doing down in Mexico with profitability? This is about US companies purchasing foreign manufactured equipment, not foreign companies entering the US to compete with domestic service providers.

KodiacZiller
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join:2008-09-04
73368

KodiacZiller to openbox9

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to openbox9
said by openbox9:

Maybe a little less concern, but I imagine the reviews will still happen...especially for critical infrastructure hardware/software.

I am skeptical how much such analysis can achieve, especially when done by hobbyists. They simply don't have the equipment. Transistors are extremely small now (~ 25 nm). You can hide a lot of malicious stuff at such a microscopic level. NSA might be capable of properly dissecting it, but not many other people have the expertise or the equipment necessary.

Also most of the firmware/microcode on these chips is not open source. That's another problem. It makes it that much harder to reverse engineer.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

said by KodiacZiller:

especially when done by hobbyists.

Luckily for us the analysis isn't being done by hobbyists.
said by KodiacZiller:

Also most of the firmware/microcode on these chips is not open source. That's another problem. It makes it that much harder to reverse engineer.

It just takes longer.

AnonFTW
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AnonFTW to openbox9

Anon

to openbox9
said by openbox9:

Perhaps you missed what Carlos Slim is doing down in Mexico with profitability? This is about US companies purchasing foreign manufactured equipment, not foreign companies entering the US to compete with domestic service providers.

I'm referring to the overall market as a whole, including service providers and equipment suppliers. Verizon and AT&T both have much higher revenue with far less subscribers than American Movil.

Regardless, who do you think it is that supplies those companies with gear? Qualcomm, Ericcson, Nortel, Alcatel-Lucent, etc. The government is trying to protect the $100B+ annual revenue of those companies. They don't want ZTE and Huewai entering the market and undercutting the domestic suppliers, which is exactly what would happen.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

said by AnonFTW :

Regardless, who do you think it is that supplies those companies with gear? Qualcomm, Ericcson, Nortel, Alcatel-Lucent, etc. The government is trying to protect the $100B+ annual revenue of those companies. They don't want ZTE and Huewai entering the market and undercutting the domestic suppliers, which is exactly what would happen.

So the US government is protecting revenue streams for other countries' companies? I think you're reading too much into this.