[saudioger]

Let's assume it's true: Does Apple have a choice other than cover-up?

Let's say this was the first they're hearing about it, and it turns out to be true.

Can they publicly state the truth, point the finger at China in the process, and risk having to immediately uproot their entire supply chain?

Is there a course of action that's better than outright public denial?

[ckastner]

> Is there a course of action that's better than outright public denial?

Sure. "We are currently investigating this issue and cannot comment until the investigation has concluded and we have determined the attackers, their motives, and possible mitigations".

> Can they publicly state the truth, point the finger at China in the process, and risk having to immediately uproot their entire supply chain?

Note that there is no reason to point the finger at China yet, only suspicion, but even if this were the case: I think China would stand to lose more from any uprooting.

This would affect Apple short-term, but Apple has, for all practical purposes and intents, unlimited amounts of cash, and they could build up a new supply chain. Weren't they keen to move production back to the US anyway?

China, on the other hand, would permanently lose this production line, and access to all the IP that comes with it.

[simonh]

>Let's assume it's true: Does Apple have a choice other than cover-up?

Yes, they can state that they detected a hardware based security intrusion and have mitigated it.

Bear in mind according to the Bloomberg article the government and several other companies know all about this already as well. If the Bloomberg article is true there are thousands of these compromised motherboards out in the wild at multiple companies. There is no way on earth Apple could ever get away with a denial, so why do it?