Some targeted individuals have indicated that their devices may be tampered with.
According to Newman(2013), the NSA’s elite hacking division Tailored Access Operations (TAO) has been documented intercepting packages so that they can tamper with the electronics purchases of US citizens.
That’s right. If they can’t remotely hack your equipment, they can intercept your package in route and compromise it with an NSA backdoor. So even if you purchase from an individual seller on a marketplace or a small retailer with no known associations to the intelligence community, you could still be at risk.
A partial countermeasure could be to purchase your electronics in person at a retail store. If you live near or have access to a metro area with several retailers you may wish to randomly select one (keep a set of dice handy), preferably with short notice. This may decrease the chances that your electronics purchase has been tampered with.
image is creative commons public domain. source: https://picryl.com/media/hard-drive-usb-connection-computer-communication-62390c
Reference:
Newman, L. H. (2013, December 29). The NSA Actually Intercepted Packages to Put Backdoors in Electronics . Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/the-nsa-actually-intercepted-packages-to-put-backdoors-1491169592
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