I was imagining bacteria feeding on my USB cables. There’s probably some species that lives in the gunk in the ports.

What's special about usb cables? Some of them feature decent nylon braided jackets (and some even silicone ones). Other than that they are just run of of mill low wage cables.

I thought it was about a small group of bacteria secretly engaged in a plot or intrigue, often with the aim of gaining or maintaining power.

It kind of is like cabal bacteria, actually.

Same I was thinking electric power lines and bacteria that feed from the voltage differential.