Military wins conviction in counterfeit chips case

A California man pled guilty to trafficking counterfeit computer chips to the U.S. military, the Justice Department announced last week. Neil Fehaly agreed to cooperate with the government as part of his plea deal, and faces up to five years in prison for passing off bogus versions of chips from Intel, VIA, STMicro, Analog Devices, and other chipmakers to the Navy.

"Those who engage in product counterfeiting, particularly of items for use by our armed forces, create a risk to both public safety and national security, and a concomitant harm to the economy and those rights holders whose hard work and ingenuity should be rewarded," said Acting U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips.

The counterfeits, some of which were outright fakes from China, have been distributed to countless critical military systems since the scam started, possibly endangering the lives of military personnel and civilians, according authorities.

The Pentagon has long been aware of the counterfeiting and remarking issue. To prevent this kind of fake equipment from getting into fighter jets, the military uses three different methods from three different design teams to implement the equipment, according to Ars Technica.

Last year, the Pentagon created the Trust in Integrated Circuits program, which awards funds to large defense contractors to come up with a way to verify that the ICs the military buys are authentic.

For more on counterfeit technology:
- see this Ars Technica article

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