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China is spying on people via fridges, laptops and light bulbs, former UK diplomat warns

China is spying on people via fridges, laptops and light bulbs, former UK diplomat warns

Image used for representational purposes. Pexels

London: A former UK diplomat who advised the Parliament on Beijing has warned the government that China has the ability to spy on common people by “weaponizing” microchips embedded in cars, refrigerators and even light bulbs.

According to a report sent to the government by the former diplomat, said that the “Trojan horse” technology poses a “wide range” of threat to the national security of the country.

What is Trojan Horse technology?

Trojan Horse is a type of malware that can be used as legitimate code or software. Once lodged inside a device or a network, hackers are able to control any action that a legitimate user could perform.

Along with this, Trojan Horse can collect data and then transmit it via 5G networks, giving China the ability to monitor every move of targets including common people as well as use the devices for industrial espionage, according to Telegraph.

‘Not awake to this threat’

The author of the report Charles Parton says that the UK government has completely failed to understand the seriousness of the threat posed by cellular IoTs (Internet of Things).

“We are not yet awake to this threat. China has spotted an opportunity to dominate this market, and if it does so it can harvest an awful lot of data as well as making foreign countries dependent on them,” Parton said.

The report also calls on the government to take “urgent action” to ban Chinese-made IoTs.

Devices like laptops, voice-controlled smart speakers, smart watches, smart energy meters, fridges, light bulbs and other Home appliances carry this module and can be simply controlled through an app.

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