China has reportedly shipped fake microchips to a number of international defence companies, including BAE, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

The flawed electrical equipment could adversely affect the capabilities of US warplanes, ships and communication networks.

According to Stephen Kent of BBN Technologies,  microchips contained "a whole bunch of functions" that companies had no direct access to. Kent also explained that it would be difficult to detect sleeper, or "surprise" functions built into the chip. 

"If somebody hid a function that, given the right inputs, could cause the chip to do something surprising, it's not clear how you could test for that," said Kent.

Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, expressed similiar concerns. "Increasingly when you buy computers they have components that originate all around the world. We need to look at how we assure that people are not embedding in very small components that can be triggered remotely."

Melissa E. Hathaway, head of cyber security in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, concurred. "Counterfeit products have been linked to the crash of mission-critical networks, and may also contain hidden 'back doors' enabling network security to be bypassed and sensitive data accessed."

The NSA (National Security Agency) has attempted to counter the threat of counterfeit chips with a specialized program designed to accredit companies supplying electronic components to government agencies. To participate, manufacturers are required to obtain security clearance for staff members and quarantine computer design tools from the Internet. In addition, the facilities must be located on-shore or in a closely allied country. 

It should be noted that the rash of high-tech counterfeiting has also signifcantly impacted the IT sector. Indeed, a large quantity of fake NAND flash products have been reported in China, including memory cards and USB flash drives ostensibly originating from brand-named suppliers. X

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