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

Mar-a-Lago
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.