Yujing Zhang, who stated she was headed to the pool at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, was wearing four phones, Chinese passports, one computer, one hard drive, and a USB stick loaded with malicious software. She didn’t have a swimsuit.
A court docket document filed utilizing a Secret Service agent describes the curious tale of a woman awkwardly talking her manner into Mar-a-Lago, a lodge in southern Florida owned by President Donald Trump, with a flimsy cowl story — and a heavy load of tech devices.
It’s unclear what Zhang’s cause changed into. However, the mendacity to access the premises of a high-cost goal as part of a hacking assault is a famous tactic inside the cybersecurity industry. It even has a name: social engineering. Still, clearly sporting a USB stick filled with malware inside a construction site doesn’t add up to an awful lot of a hack. There’s no indication Zhang set up the software program everywhere.
Zhang has been charged with making false statements to a federal officer and entering or ultimately entering a restricted building or grounds. An attorney for Zhang declined to comment, citing a workplace policy of not commenting on pending cases. If Zhang was trying to reach a computer machine inside Mar-a-Lago, she made it part of the way.
Zhang first underwent a physical screening from a Secret Service agent, after which Mar-a-Lago security was mentioned. Zhang was asked if a Mar-a-Lago member with the same closing name turned in her father, but Zhang allegedly failed to give a clear answer. Zhang was shown beyond a protection checkpoint outside Mar-a-Lago by pronouncing she was going to the pool, Secret Service agent Samuel Ivanovich said in his affidavit. She then became cleared to go into the pool.
In an announcement, the Secret Service stated it does not decide who’s allowed into the resort. The screening was supposed to determine whether Zhang had any prohibited objects. If a visitor is searching for the right of entry to Trump or every other person under Secret Service protection, the declaration states that the organization does further screening.
“The Mar-a-Lago membership management determines which participants and guests are granted access to the belongings,” the agency said in its announcement. This access does not afford individual proximity to the president or different Secret Service protectees.”
Zhang was cleared to enter, and a resort personnel member took her in a golfing cart to the reception area. Once she got to the reception desk, she allegedly changed her tale, announcing she was there for a United Nations Chinese American Association occasion. No such occasion became scheduled at the lodge. At that point, the receptionist alerted Ivanovich.
“The Mar-a-Lago reception workforce then decided that the man or woman have to have now not been authorized to get right of entry to by way of their personnel and Secret Service marketers took instantaneous action resulting in the arrest of the man or woman,” the Secret Service said.
Zhang was taken off the premises, and Ivanovich puzzled her further. That’s when a search of her bag allegedly revealed that she was carrying a complete load of devices. Ivanovich said a forensic examination of the USB stick determined evidence that it contained malicious software.
Though Zhang formerly appeared to speak English poorly, Ivanovich said he determined she should study and talk English. Zhang claimed she’d been informed utilizing her contact “Charles” over the WeChat immediately messaging provider to fulfill him at Mar-a-Lago and try “to speak with a member of the president’s circle of relatives about Chinese and American foreign economic relations,” Ivanovich stated.
