The alleged Mar-a-Lago spy's thumb drive corrupted a Secret Service agent's computer. Thanks to another Secret Service agent.

The Secret Service might need to invest in an extra computer — one specifically designated for testing out possibly malicious thumb-drives.

Yujing Zhang, the Chinese woman arrested in March for trying to enter President Trump's private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, reportedly had quite a bit of spy gear with her. A search of her hotel room revealed a device to detect hidden cameras, five cellphone SIM cards, and $8,000 in cash. Prosecutors, who are treating the case as a matter of national security, said in court Monday that Zhang also had four cellphones, a laptop, an external hard drive, and a thumb drive containing malware.

For some reason, though, a Secret Service agent decided to put Zhang's thumb-drive into a colleague's computer. What could go wrong? Well, per the Miami Herald, the drive immediately began to install files on the government computer, which caused the agent to stop the analysis to prevent any further corruption to the computer.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

While that may seem like an unsurprising turn of events, the agent did say it was "very out-of-the-ordinary." Regardless, there's a lesson to be learned in there somewhere. Tim O'Donnell