When Vladimir Putin handed Donald Trump a World Cup soccer ball as a gift, people like Sen. Lindsey Graham publicly speculated the ball might have a listening device embedded. Turns out, this ball was designed by adidas to transmit information. Bloomberg has the details:
Markings on the ball indicate that it contained a chip with a tiny antenna that transmits to nearby phones.
But rather than a spy device, the chip is an advertised feature of the Adidas AG ball. Photographs from the news conference in Helsinki, where Putin handed the ball to Trump, show it bore a logo for a near-field communication tag. During manufacturing, the NFC chip is placed inside the ball under that logo, which resembles the icon for a WiFi signal, according to the Adidas website.
The chip allows fans to access player videos, competitions and other content by bringing their mobile devices close to the ball. The feature is included in the 2018 FIFA World Cup match ball that’s sold on the Adidas website for $165(reduced to $83 in the past week).
That, of course, doesn’t meant that the Russians couldn’t have altered the existing transmitter chip. Would the former head of the KGB miss an opportunity to tinker with a listening device around Donald Trump? A man who has a history of stubbornly insists on snubbing security protocol for his phones? Let’s hope the serious security professionals didn’t pass up an opportunity to take a closer look at the inner workings of this ball.
"Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts." — Virgil's Aeneid, Book 2, 19 BC