Insight: Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters

[erronis]

1. Expect that there are rogue circuits in many electronics coming from China (and elsewhere)

It has become very simple to package miniature circuits into connectors (think USB) or integrated components added to motherboards of all types of equipment.

Depending on their purposes, these rogue components can be extremely simple, such as waiting for a particular pattern to appear on their lines and then disrupt other traffic. Or they can be used to inject malware into hardware/software (see BadUSB: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BadUSB). Others can be collecting and analyzing data and sending reports back to control centers when queried.)

The US has developed some of these capabilities so it is not just the nefarious "others" that are engaging in these tactics.