Tim Cook calls on Bloomberg to retract Chinese spy chip claims

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Tim Cook defends Apple's decision to pull HKmap.live from App Store.
Photo: Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook is fighting back against a story from Bloomberg that claimed Chinese hackers put spy chips in Apple and Amazon’s servers.

In a recent interview, Cook went on the record for the first time to deny the allegations. Cook also called on Bloomberg to retract its story saying it is absolutely false.

“There is no truth in their story about Apple,” Cook told BuzzFeed News. “They need to do that right thing and retract it.”

This is the first time ever that Apple has publicly come out and called for a story to be retracted.

Is there any truth to SpyGate?

Multiple security experts have questioned the legitimacy of Bloomberg’s claims. The Department of Homeland security and the NSA both backup Apple’s claim that spy chips were never placed on their servers.

Congress received a letter from Apple earlier this month dispelling rumors of the controversy. The company says it continuously scans for outbound traffic that could indicate the existence of malware or other malicious activity. “Nothing was ever found,” the company said.

Despite the mounting evidence against its report, Bloomberg maintains that its report is true. In a statement given to Buzzfeed, the company said its investigation took over a year with over 100 interviews.

“Seventeen individual sources, including government officials and insiders at the companies, confirmed the manipulation of hardware and other elements of the attacks,” says Bloomberg. “We also published three companies’ full statements, as well as a statement from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We stand by our story and are confident in our reporting and sources.”

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