Commemorative gifts distributed by the Russian government meant to celebrate the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg last September are infected with data-stealing malware, according to analysis.
The gifts, which included USB drives and phone chargers emblazoned with the G20 Summit logo, were distributed to world leaders at the event. EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy turned his over to German researchers for analysis, and it was determined that the units contained malware designed to exfiltrate sensitive data from cell phones and computers if users plugged them in to their devices according to a report by La Stampa.
EU authorities are conducting an investigation to determine if the attendees were being targeted in an attempted espionage operation, and have warned other nations who participated in the conference of the potential threat to security.
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