As it’s known to all the recent reports by Bloomberg that disgusted Apple, though Apple proved that there is no surveillance chip which certainly proves the reports false. In an interview with BuzzFeed, Apple CEO Tim Cook claimed that Bloomberg must retract the story – “This did not happen. There’s no truth to this.”
Earlier on October 4, Bloomberg published an investigation that claimed that almost 30 companies, including a major bank, government contractors, and the world’s most valuable company, Apple Inc., were affected by the hardware-based attack carried out by the Chinese government. According to the Bloomberg report, the chip helps attackers create “a stealth doorway” into any network running on a server.
In counter to the Bloomberg Businessweek report, Apple officially published a statement on its website: “Apple has repeatedly explained to Bloomberg reporters and editors over the past 12 months, there is no truth to these claims.” Not only that, the Silicon Valley tech giant provided a statement before its story got published.
The statement claimed, “Over the course of the past year, Bloomberg has contacted us multiple times with claims, sometimes vague and sometimes elaborate, of an alleged security incident at Apple. Each time, we have conducted rigorous internal investigations based on their inquiries and each time we have found absolutely no evidence to support any of them.”
Bloomberg’s reports on Apple is not true. They need to withdraw this report, at present Apple has not expressed its position and plans to take legal action against Bloomberg. – Tim Cook
Perhaps this is the first time Apple has reacted to a news article published on any publication, where it had to publish a public statement and a letter to Congress signed by Apple’s vice president of information security, George Stathakopoulos. Although there are hiccups about the Chinese spy chip story investigation, Bloomberg has stood steadfastly by its story and even published a follow-up account that furthered the original’s claims.
In response to Cook’s statement, Bloomberg said, “We are confident in this report, which took us more than a year. They said 17 sources have confirmed “manipulating hardware” and other attack factors”.
Bloomberg issued a statement to Buzzfeed, saying it stands by its reporting, which included spending more than a year on the story and more than 100 interviews.
The result has been an impasse between some of the world’s most powerful corporations and a highly respected news organization, even in the face of questions from Congress. On Thursday evening, an indignant Cook further ratcheted up the tension in response to an inquiry from BuzzFeed News.
It seems that the authenticity of the report, claims, and counterclaims are going more mysterious where Bloomberg can shed more light on it.
