Russian authorities have uncovered a shipment of Chinese home appliances that contain microchips designed for spying.
According to Russian news agency Rosbalt, the spy chips are implanted in irons, electric kettles, phones and car dashboard cameras[.] ...
Some of them are capable of stealing data from computers within a 200-meter radius via unsecure Wi-Fi networks.
But oh no, I was paranoid to even bring this idea up! And more recently, quoting that post.
Every device one of our sailors brings on a Navy ship should be carefully checked.
Unless this is just Russian paranoia akin to Israeli bird spies, we should really be careful.
UPDATE: Even if the Russian story is fantasy, the general idea is valid:
Secretly placing wireless devices in computer equipment has been increasingly common as improved technology allowed such devices to get smaller and more powerful. Israel and the U.S. are believed to have used such devices for intelligence operations against Arab countries and Iran. Many other intel agencies have access to this tech and are believed to be using it. The United States is the largest target for this sort of thing and major corporations and governments spend a lot of money trying to protect themselves.
And this was related to a drug-smuggling gang's operations in Europe.
