Hector Martin

You only know that because the source wasn't anonymous. If the source was anonymous, the reporter would have asked you or me if it was possible, we would have said yes...

If the source had been multiple IC officials in two administrations AND senior sources inside the affected companies, I would not have ruled it out. What happened with BadBIOS is one random person made an unsubstantiated claim, then nobody and nothing corroborated it.

Plus the source then released evidence that didn’t make any sense.

Yes, but if that hadn't happened, and instead it was quietly discussed behind closed doors, would look exactly like what we have here, no? Qualified, intelligent well-connected people who work in threat intelligence could spin a plausible delusion, no?

Or it is a case of the journalists connecting their dots in the wrong way. E.g.: there were hardware backdoor(s) found on mainboards & discussed at that meeting, maybe technically different than described, and the timing of Apple and Amazon activities was a spurious correlation.

This isn’t some quick speculative Ars Technica piece. Getting this wrong after the denials potentially means Bloomberg’s ass on a platter. I think they asked their sources “are you sure about this”.

In what way exactly is Bloomberg’s ass on the platter? All their sources are anonymous… at worst they get sued by SuperMicro for making their stock tank, assuming they survive long enough to do so. They settle out of court and continue as always.

SuperMicro can claim hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Lawyers don’t let you gamble with that.