Bloomberg stands by story of Chinese attack on Amazon, Apple software

Bloomberg News said Thursday that it stands by this week’s Bloomberg Businessweek cover story that reported that Amazon and Apple systems were infiltrated by malicious computer chips inserted by Chinese intelligence agents.

Both companies issued statements that strongly denied the story.

A Bloomberg News spokeswoman gave the following statement to Talking Biz News:

Bloomberg Businessweek’s investigation is the result of more than a year of reporting, during which we conducted more than 100 interviews. Seventeen individual sources, including government officials and insiders at the companies, confirmed the manipulation of hardware and other elements of the attacks. 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.

Apple issued a statement that said, “We are deeply disappointed that in their dealings with us, Bloomberg’s reporters have not been open to the possibility that they or their sources might be wrong or misinformed.”

Apple also said it did not report the incident to the FBI, as the Bloomberg Businessweek report states.

Here are the statements from the companies and the Chinese government that the magazine posted alongside its story.