In 1945 the Soviets gave the US ambassador in Moscow a carved wooden seal that secretly hid a battery-free bug — and it went undetected for years.

1945

Known as 'The Thing,' the device had no power source of its own; it was activated remotely by a radio beam aimed at it, making it nearly impossible to detect by conventional sweeps. It hung on the ambassador's study wall for around seven years before it was finally discovered, and its passive design influenced surveillance technology for decades.