The Adidas soccer ball Russian President Vladimir Putin gave to President Trump at their summit in Finland appears to contain a chip that can transmit information to nearby cellphones, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
The publication noted that photos of the ball show a logo for a near-field communication (NFC) tag, a chip that is included in the Adidas 2018 FIFA World Cup ball. Russia hosted this year’s World Cup.
Adidas AG soccer balls, similar to the one Putin presented to Trump during a joint press conference last week, contain a small chip that can send content to mobile devices. Users can hold their phones close to the ball to access videos and competitions, according to Bloomberg.
Adidas declined to comment to Bloomberg on whether the device could be used in a Russian cyberattack. The brand’s website states that the chip can’t be modified.
The publication reported that such a chip has been used at least once to breach a phone, though a cybersecurity expert told Bloomberg that it’s unlikely that a cyberattack could be launched using the device. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., on Sunday criticized President Trump’s meeting last week with Russian President Putin, and called the former “Apprentice” star “Putin’s apprentice.”
Waters, who was on MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” said she was not surprised by the amount of criticism the president received.
“In fact, for months I’ve been trying to tell the American public that this president is dangerous [and] that he’s in bed with Putin,” Waters told host Joy Reid. “Don’t forget this president can’t borrow money in the United States from any bank. This president is looking at Russia for his new money, financial playground.”
Waters accused Trump and his former campaign associates—or as she called them the “Kremlin clan”—of having some form of an agreement with Putin to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia in exchange for help in the 2016 presidential election.
“This president, I believe, has promised him (Putin) that, once he was elected, he would get those sanctions lifted,” she said, later adding, “I think he is Putin’s apprentice. He’s been under his tutelage for a long time now.”- READ MORE
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