Much too easy: Planting a two-dollar spy chip on hardware with a technique that can be pulled off on a less than $200 budget? Yet that was the work of a proof in concept investigation by a security researcher and tech-watching sites were discussing the story on Monday.

Turns out you can slip a spy chip into any hardware for no more than $198 to $200, said reports. The spotlight was on security researcher Monta Elkins, Hacker-in-Chief, FoxGuard Solutions. He has a proof-of-concept version of a hardware implant.

John Dunn, Naked Security, talked about the chip as bad news for security were it to happen. “In fact, this has already happened as part of a project by researcher Monta Elkins, designed to prove that this sort of high-end hardware hack is no longer the preserve of nation-states.”