Putin Accused Of Spying On World Leaders At G20 Summit With "Poisoned" Computer Memory Sticks

[Purveyor]

Russian leader Vladimir Putin spied on world leaders at last month’s G20 summit by giving them “poisoned” computer memory sticks, it was alleged today.

Delegates at the St Petersburg gathering were reportedly handed USB pen drives which used a “Trojan horse” programme to download sensitive information.

They also got mobile phone chargers which were allegedly capable of monitoring emails, telephone calls and text messages.

The secret bugging was discovered by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy who ordered the memory sticks and chargers to be tested by intelligence experts in Brussels.

A warning memo was then sent out to G20 members who attended the summit, the Italian paper Corriere della Sera claims.

“The USB pen drives and the recharging cables were able to covertly capture computer and mobile phone data,” the secret memo said.

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http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/vladimir-putin-accused-spying-world-2653508#ixzz2jDx5jbDx

[JoePhilly]

1. "Obama did it first!"

[jberryhill]

2. Meh

As if anyone, especially at that level, would have been naive enough to use a USB device in a swag bag at something like that.

One should assume freebies like that have surprises inside, and there's no reason to assume that the Russian government was necessarily involved.

But, yeah, who would go to an event like that and say, "Gee, free electronic stuff! I guess I'll plug my phone and computer into it."