Internet criminals have long used so-called Trojan software to infect their victim's computers and launch sneak attacks from the inside out. But could they now be putting a new spin on the concept by actually planting the hardware too?

That's one theory emerging after Joe Manchin, the governor of West Virginia, suddenly had five new laptops delivered to his office. The computers arrived earlier this month, but diligent bureaucrats checked the records and discovered that they had not been ordered by the administration.

While eternal optimists might hope that some friendly citizen decided their governor would like some new computers, officials suspect that it is unlikely to be an act of altruism. Computerworld quotes West Virginia's chief technology Kyle Schafer, who says that "our expectation is that this is not a gesture of good will".

Although no malicious code has yet been found on the computers, the FBI is now looking into where these mystery machines came from - and the evidence is beginning to point towards something sinister, given that similar incidents have also taken place in Vermont and Wyoming.

It's quite easy to understand the appeal of this approach for a cybercriminal. After all, government workers have access to amazing amounts of data, and they are not always careful about safeguarding it. And if you want to get through the security barriers, what's better than an inside job?

Planting hardware is something that almost worked for the attempted £220m raid on the London offices of Japanese bank Sumitomo back in 2004, where keyloggers were snuck into the bank's computers. But that strike was foiled by police - and so far it doesn't appear that the provider of the mystery laptops has succeeded in accessing any valuable information either.

The investigation continues.