The 3000 or so journalists who provided media coverage for the Trump-Kim summit were cautioned by netizens not to plug in the USB mini fan they received into their computers. They said that the fans could be used to hack into computers they were plugged into via the USB feature.
The mini fans were part of a goody bag given to journalists, that included bottled water, a hand-held fan and a guide book of Sentosa Island.
Media goody bag: Mini USB fan, hand-held fan with #TrumpKim on either side to blow around all the hot air…. and a fun guide to Sentosa. NB: that’s not the delegations playing beach volleyball. pic.twitter.com/fbdKVzr0Cn
— Amanda Drury (@MandyCNBC) June 10, 2018
These accusations come after Russia reportedly spied on the leaders of the G20 summit in 2013, with ‘Trojan horse’ pen drives.
In 2013, The Telegraph reported that “Suspicions were first raised about the Russian spying campaign by Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Council, according to Corriere della Sera. He ordered the USB pen drives and other devices received by the delegates in St Petersburg to be analysed by intelligence experts in Brussels, as well as Germany’s secret service.”
“A memorandum was then sent out to G20 members, the Italian daily claimed”.
It was reported that according to the memo, the USB pen drives and the recharging cables were able to covertly capture computer and mobile phone data.
The Telegraph also reported that for the 2013 G20 summit, the virus were Trojan horses designed to obtain information from computers and cell phones.
Suspicions during the Trump-Kim summit could have been raised following in the footsteps of the G20 summit suspicion.
Most netizens felt that the journalists should exercise caution and not plug it in, but some dismissed the theory entirely.
As to whether the USB mini fans were actually aids in hacking information from journalists, remains to be seen.
obbana@theindependent.sg