‘NSA Bugs Can Spy on 100,000 Computers, Even When They’re Offline’ – ‘Mashable’

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai says, “The National Security Agency has planted spy software and hardware into 100,000 computers worldwide, not 50,000 as previously reported.These bugs allow the agency to conduct surveillance even on computers that are offline — or air-gapped, as they are referred to in spy lingo, per documents leaked by Edward Snowden.

The implants are tiny radio transceivers that must be surreptitiously planted inside a computer, either before being shipped to manufacturers or afterward by an agent with access to the computer as part of a so-called “black bag job.” The transceivers, which can look like normal USB plugs, then “infiltrate” and “exfiltrate” data from the hacked computers to an NSA relay station the size of a large suitcase, up to eight miles away“.