Researchers claim that Macs with Apple's M1 and T2 chips cannot be reactivated offline

Macs with Apple's M1 and T2 security chips cannot be reactivated offline and are forced to communicate with Apple, so they can be used in sensitive data processing systems and remote locations / spacecraft that are required to be used completely offline. Security researcher Jeffrey Paul claims it is not suitable for use.

Jeffrey Paul: On Trusting Macintosh Hardware
https://sneak.berlin/20201204/on-trusting-macintosh-hardware/

Apple M1 and T2 Macs Requiring Internet to Activate is a Flaw: Researcher | iPhone in Canada Blog
https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/mac/apple-m1-and-t2-macs-requiring-internet-to-activate-is-a-flaw-researcher/

Apple's T2 security chip is a second-generation custom silicon for Mac that has been installed in MacBook Pro and MacBook Air since 2018, with storage encryption, secure boot function, advanced image signal processing, and Touch ID data. It is a chip that gives the Mac functions such as security measures. The model equipped with the T2 security chip can be confirmed from the following.

Macs with Apple T2 Security Chip-Apple Support
https://support.apple.com/ja-jp/HT208862

According to Paul, Macs equipped with the T2 security chip and the M1 chip that inherits the functionality of the T2 security chip will 'unique hardware-specific identifiers and connections' when restoring the system to factory information. It is said that there is a problem that it can not be activated in an offline environment because it performs the process of 'verifying the encrypted signature including the original IP address with Apple'.

Therefore, in data processing facilities that require a completely offline environment for security reasons, facilities that have to be offline such as Antarctica, deep sea, outer space, and countries such as China that block communication with Apple, Mac is used. Paul claims that he will not be able to reactivate.

Paul mentioned that Apple has cooperated with the Chinese government's Internet censorship and submitted all iCloud data of Chinese users to the Chinese government, and what the T2 security chip and M1 chip are doing He said that he had to connect with Apple even though it was concealed, and commented that 'the reliability of the entire Mac platform has been greatly reduced.'

In addition, Mr. Paul claimed that when macOS Big Sur was released, 'application startup logs are now sent to the outside.' You can read more about Paul's allegations and their counter-arguments in the following articles:

Does 'macOS Big Sur', which made a major update for the first time in 20 years, really send the application startup log to the outside? --GIGAZINE