Bloomberg is Still Reporting on Challenged Story Regarding China Hardware Hack

Erik Wemple, writing for The Washington Post: According to informed sources, Bloomberg has continued reporting the blockbuster story that it broke on Oct. 4, including a very recent round of inquiries from a Bloomberg News/Bloomberg Businessweek investigative reporter. In emails to employees at Apple, Bloomberg's Ben Elgin has requested 'discreet' input on the alleged hack. 'My colleagues' story from last month (Super Micro) has sparked a lot of pushback,' Elgin wrote on Nov. 19 to one Apple employee. 'I've been asked to join the research effort here to do more digging on this... and I would value hearing your thoughts (whatever they may be) and guidance, as I get my bearings.'

One person who spoke with Elgin told the Erik Wemple Blog that the Bloomberg reporter made clear that he wasn't part of the reporting team that produced 'The Big Hack.' The goal of this effort, Elgin told the potential source, was to get to 'ground truth'; if Elgin heard from 10 or so sources that 'The Big Hack' was itself a piece of hackery, he would send that message up his chain of command. The potential source told Elgin that the denials of 'The Big Hack' were '100 percent right.'

According to the potential source, Elgin also asked about the possibility that Peter Ziatek, senior director of information security at Apple, had written a report regarding a hardware hack affecting Apple. In an interview with the Erik Wemple Blog, Ziatek says that he'd never written that report, nor is he aware of such a document. Following the publication of Bloomberg's story, Apple conducted what it calls a 'secondary' investigation surrounding its awareness of events along the lines of what was alleged in 'The Big Hack.' That investigation included a full pat-down of Ziatek's own electronic communications. It found nothing to corroborate the claims in the Bloomberg story, according to Ziatek.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.