Re: Some portable hard drives upload stored info to Beijing websites without user's knowledge
- From: Edwin Hurwitz <edwin@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:52:15 -0700
Yet another reason to get a Mac!
Edwin
In article <y6SZi.6570$3Z2.108@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"k sturm" <kasturm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Published on Taipei Times--
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/11/12/2003387447
Chinese subcontractors blamed for trojan horses
VIRUS: Investigators say the tainted Maxtor portable hard disc, made by
Seagate, uploads information saved on the computer automatically to Web
sites in Beijing
By Lin Ching-lin
STAFF REPORTERS
Monday, Nov 12, 2007, Page 2
Following findings by the Investigation Bureau that portable hard discs
produced by US disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology that were sold in
Taiwan contained Trojan horse viruses, further investigations suggested that
"contamination" took place when the products were in the hands of Chinese
subcontractors during the manufacturing process.
On Saturday, Seagate Technology LLC, the manufacturer of the Maxtor portable
hard drive, said on its Web site (www.seagate.com) that Maxtor Basics
Personal Storage 3200 hard drives sold after August could be infected with
the virus.
Anti-virus software manufacturer Kaspersky Labs also issued a similar
warning. The hard drive has been temporarily pulled off the shelves and is
no longer available for purchase.
UPLOAD
The Investigation Bureau said the tainted portable hard drives automatically
upload any information saved on the computer to Beijing Web sites without
the user's knowledge .
While investigating a Chinese subcontractor involved in the manufacturing
process, Seagate found that a small number of drives were infected with the
viruses. The company said the products from the problem factory had been
scanned and all viruses had been eliminated, adding that all inventory would
also be treated before the product was returned to stores.
Seagate did not disclose the stage in the manufacturing process where the
Chinese subcontractor installed the Trojan horse.
Seagate recommended that all customers who had purchased the product install
protective anti-virus software.
To this end, Seagate said that Kaspersky Labs would offer all Seagate
customers a 60-day fully functional version of the Kaspersky Lab Anti-Virus
7.0 software for download and installation.
In September, the British online information technology magazine The
Register published information saying that Kaspersky Labs had found a
pre-installed virus named Virus.Win32.AutoRun.ah on Maxtor 3200 external
hard drives sold in the Netherlands.
PASSWORDS
When the virus accesses software, it looks for gaming passwords and deletes
mp3 files.
The publication asked Seagate to verify the information, but a company
spokesperson said: "This scenario seems unlikely because the 3200 does not
have any software preloaded on the drive so there is not an opportunity for
a virus to be loaded. Yes, the drive is formatted, but I have never heard of
a virus that lives in the master boot record."
The Register said that Kaspersky Labs believes the virus is installed as
soon as a user installs the drive and double clicks on its icon.
If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your
enemies.
-Moshe Dayan
.
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