iPhone Chip Supplier TSMC Stops Production After Computer Virus Attack
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)—Apple’s sole supplier of SoC components for iPhones and iPads, and Qualcomm’s major manufacturing partner—shut down several of its chip-fabrication factories Friday night after being hit by a computer virus.
The world’s largest makers of semiconductors and processors TSMC lost an entire day of production after several of its factories systems were halted by a computer virus in the middle
of the ramp-up for chips to be used by Apple’s future lines of iPhones.
Though the popular chip maker has been attacked by viruses in the past, this is the first time a virus has affected TSMC’s production lines, making the incident a real big deal.
Without revealing many details, TSMC said a number of its computer systems and fabrication tools were infected by the virus on Friday night, but since then it has recovered 80% of its impacted equipment, though others will be recovered by tomorrow.
According to TSMC, the computer virus was not released into the fabrication factories by any hacker.
Here’s what happened according to the company:
“This virus outbreak occurred due to misoperation during the software installation process for a new tool, which caused a virus to spread once the tool was connected to the Company’s computer network,” TSMC said in a statement.
“Data integrity and confidential information was not compromised. TSMC has taken actions to close this security gap and further strengthen security measures.”
Source | thehackernews
