Of all the hardware manufacturers, Apple is least likely for such a scam to work.

They design their own motherboards, and any added chips to their design, or substituted chip out of spec, would not make it to market.

Maybe the Chinese embeded some call home chip into a mouse or something, and they are able to access that on a Mac, but it is highly doubtful even then.

DocMoreau

Double post... Maybe the Chinese made me somehow double click that on my mac....




[edit on 21/11/2008 by DocMoreau]

just use a firewall NOT made in China.
Most computers are made for hi-speed internet, and a firewall is an essential program---as so or more than an anti-virus.

I would so be toast without my firewall! I use it constantly, tweak it all the time, and check it to make sure no unauthorized programs are ever allowed internet access. However, if this chip is on the hardware and finds a way to run its own code independent of the OS **while the OS is running** then that is a bad bad bad thing, because the firewall would not detect it.

Great crikies! I've been saying for years that we are paying the b@#t&@*s to kill us some time in the future! They are banking all the money up now just so they can vacation in Cuba one day.

Just look at your floors, walls, furniture & ceilings. Their name is on practically everything. (Unless you live in an antique shop).

Americans might as well dig a pit the length of the country, get on our knees, & wait for the Red Commies to lop our brainless nogs off into a bloody hole. (The only satisfaction that I will get is to see my ex get hers before I do). LOL

But honestly, with all of the current fervor over the Pres-Candidates, Whitehouse, Pentagon, mil-installations computer hacks, there is something seriously going on, and I do hope WE have an answer.

And noone noticed it? It took an 'intelligence insider' to out this? I call hoax based on the fact that people would notice the extra hardware not to mention the extra traffic.

actually you wouldn't noticed it, take apart your computer and look at all the chips... there are large ones and small ones, there are covers to some even that house several chips... its not really that hard to hide them in there.... Stop denying it... its very possible...

I was wondering why I had that dream about the crazy chinese attacking america 8- | lol but seriously... The chinese are a sleeping dragon awaiting their time to wake... just think about how quiet things are... nobody ever hears about china going to war... they want to reserve it all for 1 battle... i dunno ... shrugs... its too late now anyways... The Government loves Dell.

I fail to see how it would even be possible for a single chip to perform this task, without that chip being large enough to be easily visible on the circuit board. Surely Intel and AMD would be looking at their motherboards and say, "Hey, that's not our design!"

Look at how much space any given component takes up on your computer. Even the on-board modem/networking chips are easily visible. Don't you think people would notice an extra one?

Second flaw to this concept, is the idea that the Chinese can just "activate" those chips remotely. How? There's two ways they could pull it off:

1. Randomly attempt to connect to IP addresses one at a time, until they've found the computers they are targeting. This means they'd have to sort through the millions of computers they *aren't* targeting first.

2. Have every single computer in the world automatically log into a secret server somewhere, just to wait in idle mode for the take-over command. And then, pull this all off without anyone noticing the massive amount of mystery bandwidth being used.

I'm considering this one a hoax for now, or just a dumb rumor that got out of hand.

I'm not saying they couldn't put a chip on there, or that they couldn't disguise it. I'm saying that I don't believe it could go on indefinitely without them getting caught.

All it would take is one chipmaker taking a close look at what one of their Chinese plants sent them to figure it out and catch on. I'm sure the average computer expert wouldn't be able to, but if there's any kind of quality control inspecting these products when they come back stateside, I just don't see it slipping through on *every* computer since who-knows-when.

And if there isn't any such quality control, well, then I guess we're screwed. Question two for China is, how do you solve the other problem I mentioned?

Other than that, I'm not buying the argument that "China is quiet... it MUST mean there are secret chips spying on our computers!"

im not saying because its quiet they must... im saying everything is connected...

Considering a motherboard can be made any way the manufacture wants and not how AMD or INTEL want... things can happen. Motherboards arent made for AMD or INTEL they are made for the consumer using AMD and INTEL to process the information... People could check it if they wanted... but since when has America been working hard. Im an American worker, i get dragged down by the slackers and I cant finish all the tasks... you know the American Government isn't watching out backs... and if you read the news there are moles in all branches of Government slipping secrets to china... Our World is corrupt its just something we have to accept and there is a possibility that everyones computer is at risk... I dont buy that everyones is at risk... but I bet there is a large percentage.

and I didnt mean any offense in the shame on you... i just throw stuff ou there to instiate I like intelligent discussion and you have a good oppinion.

I am however going to bed, I hope that this thread sprouts over night

i bet people are scared now...

FYI fear is the best form of control

No offense taken. I do think that there's potential for some espionage to occur (there always is.) I merely disagree that something that large could go on undetected by one means or another.

Could this be happening in a limited capacity? Certainly. Hopefully not, though. Have a good night anyways!

There are viruses than can cause your bios to be changed so that your system will fail or hardware will behave strangely. Either way, we have no way knowing whether or not our computers are infected by viruses from hackers.

I had a Swedish friend who I used to play this online game with. He quit the game for a month to develop a virus that will control the Network controller of the infected system. Meaning that unless you unplug your computer from the internet physically, people will always have access to your computer.

Viruses are a far more likely, less costly, and stealthier method of computer-based espionage.

In addition to being easier and cheaper to produce, they make it a lot harder to trace the culprit. If there's a chip discovered on a circuit board that shouldn't be there, there's not really any doubt about who put it there. A virus? That could come from a million places.

I wouldn't doubt that the Chinese have many, many viruses floating around cyberspace doing spy work. Not for a second.