I said back then it would be almost trivial to implant a very tiny chip on the bottom of the ethernet jacks that get mounted to computer boards. Runs some microcode to periodically send some traffic or packet groups elsewhere. And Listen for further instructions.
I was trashed by some Freepers, who seemed quite intent on defending the board maker, Super Micro. How many servers got compromised sacrificially to let the IC play games?
Truth is, as we learned, the IC supports the IC, but not regular Americans. They don’t care if we get hurt, as long as they get their shiney new toys and get to play Spy Vs. Spy. Flynn said he would audit the CIA. Look what happened.
I despise the US 3-letter agencies. And am now probably on some list for saying it. Oh well.
The added chip method does not hide well from board repair facilities. Shows up on the schematic and the output of logic analyzers. Extra special “code” in the firmware is much sneakier and harder to detect.
Back when? You've been here since 2014.