VietNamNet Bridge – BKAV, the Vietnamese leading Internet security firm, said in principle, it is completely possible to attach spy chips to home appliances to seek out information, when asked if there is spyware in Chinese kettles and irons.
A baseband WiFi/3G chip is very small and light.
The news that 20-30 pieces of spy microchips were found in Chinese household appliances has put Vietnamese on tenterhooks. The spyware is capable to use wifi network in the range of up to 200 meters, spread malware and send information to overseas servers.
The information proves to be trustworthy because it has been released by the Russian National Television Rossiya 24.
Nguyen Minh Duc, Deputy President of BKAV, said in theory, it is possible to attach spyware on household appliances.
A spy device, if attaching to the surfaces such as under the table or on the wall, can only operate for 2-3 days. Meanwhile, household appliances such as kettles or irons, the items which can operate only when plugged in, can have longer “life expectancy.” When plugged in, the chips can receive power and “feed” the spy chips.
Can the dangerous chips be attached to kettles or irons? According to Duc, the ideal places for chips to be installed are the handle or the base of the things, where the temperature is the lowest.
Since kettles and irons are the commonly seen things, which are regularly put in the center of conference rooms or living rooms, it is ideal to bug meetings or conferences with the chips attached to them.
Regarding the way the spyware “communicates” with the “nerve center,” they may use wifi connection, 3G or radio wave.
In the first case, the chips would track the access point of the public wifi router which does not have password to connect, and then they get information from the other devices which have connections with the same wifi networks.
Nevertheless, Duc affirmed that it would be impossible for the chips to do that if the wifi router has password and uses WPA and WPA2 security standards. Moreover, the unlicensed connection to wifi can be easily discovered thanks to Wireless Network Watcher, Zamzom, or the software associated with router.
It would be more dangerous if the chips transmit data through 3G network, because it is very difficult to discover the behavior, while the information transmission can be done with no limitation in space and time.
It is also very difficult to discover the connections with radio wave, but the information transmission can only be done within a certain space, while this can be discovered with FM radio or the radio function on mobile phones.
According to the British newspaper The Register, in general, the consignments of products with heavier weight than usual may contain the products with spy chips.
However, Duc does not think this is an effective measure to discover chips. “It is impossible to find out if kettles or irons contain spy chips just by weighing them. A baseband WiFi/3G chip is very small and light, even when it is attached with PCB Transformer, just several grams. Therefore, kettles and irons with spy chips would not be heavy enough to be recognized.
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