Microsemi denies backdoor claims

CHIP MAKER Microsemi has denied suggestions that it built a backdoor into a processor used by the US military that could give Chinese hackers access to its systems.

When the report surfaced in a research paper out of Cambridge University, we were told this is a problem with Stuxnet-like ramifications. Not so, says Microsemi, which, though it is not party to all the information but enough to console itself, says that this has all been blown out of proportion.

Here's the short version: "Microsemi can confirm that there is no designed feature that would enable the circumvention of the user security." The longer version (PDF) is that the firm has not been able to carry out the same studies that the researchers did, so it is not able to fully grasp their conclusions. However, it says that the described backdoor, the ability to retrieve a key, is common, and not a backdoor at all.