> A technology expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, Professor John Villasenor, said the globalisation of the semi-conductor market has “made it not only possible but inevitable that chips that have been intentionally and maliciously altered to contain hidden ‘Trojan’ circuitry will be inserted into the supply chain.
So we aren't necessarily talking about every single machine being back-doored. My point is that Dell and HP aren't necessarily any more secure just because they're American companies. The home-country of the company whose badge is on the machine is pretty much meaningless in a globalized world.
The article also contains some suggestion that this was motivated by rivalry in addition to security, so there's that as well.
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Do they check every machine? From TFA:
So we aren't necessarily talking about every single machine being back-doored. My point is that Dell and HP aren't necessarily any more secure just because they're American companies. The home-country of the company whose badge is on the machine is pretty much meaningless in a globalized world.The article also contains some suggestion that this was motivated by rivalry in addition to security, so there's that as well.