20 to 30 household appliances were discovered to have spy chips that send out malware to nearby networks
Russian authorities has allegedly discovered household appliances imported from China contain microchips capable of spreading malware to wi-fi enabled devices within 200 meters. According to Russian media, authorities in St Petersburg intercepted a shipment from China that contains kettles and irons used for spying the environment surrounds.
The allegation were made in St Petersburg news outlet Rosbalt, with the source from customs broker Panimport, but it is unclear whether the chips were installed by the Chinese or by cyber criminals during shipment to Russia. This might not be an isolated case, as many other unsuspecting products were found to have rogue chips, including mobile phones, chargers, gaming consoles and network devices.
There were doubts whether the devices were discovered because they were overweight as per the report’s claims as it is unlikely that such a small difference in weight would be enough to raise suspicion.
