Chinese spy in my vacuum cleaner? Estonian intelligence warns of potential dangers within Chinese technology

The global advancement and prevalence of Chinese technology is not merely due to the industriousness and entrepreneurship of Chinese talent. Rather, it's a distinctive strategy by China to amplify its political influence. The objective is to reach a stage where the integrated technology solutions provided by China cannot be superseded by Western technology, largely due to issues of incompatibility and mutual connections. This was explained in a document published on Tuesday.

The public and private sectors ought to proactively thwart the rampant proliferation of Chinese technology. According to the report, it is highly likely that, owing to geopolitical advancements and security issues, a difficult decision to relinquish Chinese technology might soon be imperative - a warning issued by Estonian intelligence.

Experts have highlighted the risk posed by the adoption of lidar systems, which scan the environment for devices such as cars or vacuum cleaners that utilize this data. They assert, "Autonomous vehicles fitted with Chinese technology may potentially be exploited for intelligence purposes."

"The same risk associated with scanning the entire environment also extends to popular household electronics like robotic vacuum cleaners. There's an additional risk with personalized services provided by Chinese tech companies. If they hold accounts in mobile applications, they could potentially gather information about their users," the report revealed.

The intelligence report emphasized the risk of using applications like TikTok. It pointed out that the data download through these applications by Beijing can aid China in developing a "sophisticated artificial intelligence" platform, which is based on "visual and behavioral data of people from various origins."

It added, "Besides the advancement of artificial intelligence, data collected by the app can serve multiple purposes. TikTok gathers a plethora of information about the device and its users, such as contacts, calendars, other applications, Wi-Fi connections, and location. This information can be leveraged for intelligence gathering, extortion, and cyberattacks."