Russia Finds Hidden Chips Inside Chinese Electric Iron And Kettles That Scans Wi-Fi To Serve Malware

News reports from Russia's state-owned channel Rossiya 24 showed footage of a technician opening up an iron included in a batch of Chinese imports to find a "spy chip" with "a little microphone" embedded into it. These hidden, embedded electronic chips are scanning and connecting to any computer within a 200m radius with unprotected Wi-Fi networks, once connected these "Trojan devices" were being used to spread viruses.

While the report says that the malware is being used to send SPAM, piggy-banking on infected computer's internet connection and resources without the owner's knowledge about it, our recent story "Hidden Backdoor In Your Internet Router - With Love, From China !!" and the fact that the rogue devices had "an microphone" further establishes the fact that these are or can be used for spying. The researchers also found other products having these rogue components including mobile phones, car dashboard cameras and electric kettles.