The world’s top chipmakers can flip a ‘kill switch’ should China invade Taiwan, Bloomberg reports

8 comments

1. Posting because I am unaware of this ‘kill switch’ option – not my wheelhouse — and if this is possible to do why isn’t it being done for terrorist war criminal evil ruzzian chips??

   Please comment — do not down vote for lack of mention of Ukraine. Everything is connected!

2. Spares the US from having to bomb it themselves,  I suppose. 

3. Instead of a kill switch they should have a dead man switch that always has to run an authentication with a host in Kharkiv several times a day. The authentication procedure would be very secure making it impossible to redirect. Any time the authentication fails it automatically results in every machine wiping themselves or initiating mechanical processes that permanently disable the equipment.

   By putting the remote host in Kharkiv it also forces China to put pressure on Russia to stop the war.

4. Give Taiwan Nukes, it’s the only way for deterrence.

5. Good to no

6. if TSMC can remotely disable their fabricators, you can bet your ass, the US can as well.

7. Scary how they can simply destroy their equipment. That should give pause to anyone using such equipment. 

   Also, now the Chinese gov knows that they gotta cut the inet before an invasion and then the “kill”switch won’t work anymore.

8. There’s a problem that perhaps isn’t being considered in the report.

   For all their deficiencies, most of the New Axis of Evil countries–China, Russia, NK– undeniably have *very* formidable cyber operations capabilities (Iran has them too, but they’re generally more of an annoyance than anything ). China, in particular, is thought to be years ahead of Western capabilities, and not a month goes by that we don’t accidentally discover some malware or intrusion that they have been exploiting for months to *years.*

   The machines that the West has to supply Taiwan are unique on the mechanical side, things like nanoscale control machinery and extremely precise lithography equipment, and it’s that mechanical aspect that China has not been able to replicate, including through reverse engineering. The theory and the code, however, is entirely within their capability.

   So, if China were able to capture some of these factories intact, it may not be too difficult for them to “unlock” the machines that have been shut down remotely, and so in the overall scheme of things it may not be much of a deterrence.

   Moreover, if these are able to be shut down remotely, that brings up the possibility of it being a target for Russia or China in their offensive cyber operations. Even if they can just shut down the machines for a few days before they get fixed, it would likely cause billions of dollars in economic disruptions and supply chain ripples.

   I hope that when they reference a remote kill switch, it’s by somebody on a secure private network on site, rather than anything that could be accessed from an external network. And I also hope that the manufacturers and the government have the plans, and the will to use those plans, for physical destruction to prevent them from falling into the Chinese hands.

   That, I think, would be the only true deterrence for China.