It’s possible there is custom hardware/firmware.
I’m sure there’s a false tooth in every SS device to literally melt the drives, once they’re opened/activated by the thief after being taken. In the meantime, they track where it’s going.
Now, who leaked what was on it, or is this conjecture?
You can remove the firmware and just read the bare drive
We have even replaced the board on a hard drive to read it.