Intel Chip Flaws With China

"Intel Warned Chinese Companies of Chip Flaws Before U.S. Government"

In an article posted by The Wall Street Journal, Robert McMillan and Liza Lin from San Francisco and Shanghai collaborated to discuss the topic of security and integrity of Intel Corporation. After the company decided to notify only a small group of customers, including the Chinese technology companies, but left out the US government it left for some concerns to rise. The reason this became a controversial issue between the US and China is because the US government are the ones who are most familiar with the matter and the company involved. The US is concerned that the information about the chip flaws could have fallen into the wrong hands of the Chinese government and could have been publicly divulged. These flaws can be used to sneak out private data and information and be given to any intelligence gathering agency. The reason this has become a problem specifically with China is because in the past, the country had "state linked hackers who have exploited software vulnerabilities to get leverage on their targets or expand surveillance." Concluding, the Chinese have proven they can't be trusted with certain information because they go and take it for their own step up. 

Slowly, over time more and more countries were becoming aware of the situation at hand before others were. Intel was trying to keep the information covered for as long as they could before they wanted to come out themselves and discuss what was going on, but of course the news was made public earlier than anticipated. Workers apart of the Department of Homeland Security were not even notified of the issue until they heard about it from other news reports. Along with the Department of Homeland Security, the NSA was similar in the dark and hidden away from this information. 

The reason it is so important for as many companies to know as soon as possible is because the sooner they know about the problem the sooner they can protect their online companies. By knowing of this breach sooner it also allows for the companies to put out any release statements after the news to ensure their customers and their privacy were protected. I think after reading over this article it has really made me more aware of how significant our technology is to us and how quickly it can also backfire on us. With all the power we can get from our updated technology, we can lose it just as quickly if we are not careful with protecting it. The reason our technology is so important is because it can give use a competitive advantage over other countries, but in this case when countries like China can get a hold of our technology they are able to see how we interact and take that from us. While I think it is important to have security in our technology, some advantages of sharing it with other countries can allow for us to create new bonds and learn even more through other countries and create more allies. 

Link to article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/intel-warned-chinese-companies-of-chip-flaws-before-u-s-government-1517157430