In theory it could have a microcontroller with firmware on it disguised as just a normal part of the chip that sends instructions whenever a wifi/ethernet device is detected, but I’m pretty sure any computer engineer that looks at it would say “hey what’s this thing here and why is it eating up extra power?” and the jig would be up, and I’m pretty sure even the Germans could spare a computer engineer or two to look at their imports. And that’s assuming no other link in the chain detects something fishy (like the OS).
In theory it could have a microcontroller with firmware on it disguised as just a normal part of the chip that sends instructions whenever a wifi/ethernet device is detected, but I’m pretty sure any computer engineer that looks at it would say “hey what’s this thing here and why is it eating up extra power?” and the jig would be up, and I’m pretty sure even the Germans could spare a computer engineer or two to look at their imports. And that’s assuming no other link in the chain detects something fishy (like the OS).