There's a lot about this story that doesn't add up either. One particularly questionable bit is:

> Appleboum said one key sign of the implant is that the manipulated Ethernet connector has metal sides instead of the usual plastic ones. The metal is necessary to diffuse heat from the chip hidden inside, which acts like a mini computer.

Every RJ45 jack ("Ethernet connector") I've seen used in modern networking hardware has a metal case for EMI shielding. This isn't an indicator of compromise. Nor does this make sense as a location for an implant -- the RJ45 jack isn't in a privileged position to access information on the server, nor would a device located inside the jack be able to easily interact with the network without interfering with the real Ethernet controller.