[Discuss] "The Manchurian Computer"?

[F. O. Ozbek]

On 07/26/2012 02:44 PM, Kent Borg wrote:
>
> My "Manchurian" musings are on the theory that the Chinese are
> aggressively trying to break into western systems, and that a Chinese
> company (not just Chinese manufacturer) would have extra opportunity to
> embed lots of stuff in products they ship.  Not just software, but in
> firmware and silicon.  Maybe keyboard recorders that can be read back
> given physical control of the computer.  Maybe network hardware features
> that can offer more deluxe remote access.
>
> Running Linux would break (most) Windows assumptions that remote access
> might depend upon, but clever attackers might be more OS agnostic.
> Lenovo seems like the make that would most likely have backdoors.  If
> the US government makes US manufacturers put in backdoors (as has been
> rumored) the Chinese are certainly not above similar behavior.
>
>
> -kb

I think it is unlikely the foreign governments
will be modifying the hardware. Most the spying, etc
seems to be limited to the software level. (so far.)