NEW GADGETS MAY COME FROM FACTORY WITH VIRUSES....
Harmful computer viruses can infiltrate hardware before it leaves the factory. In recent years, some hard drives, global positioning system devices, digital picture frames and music players were tainted during the manufacturing process.
From MP3 players to navigation systems, some of today's hottest gadgets are landing on store shelves with some unwanted extras from the factory ---- preinstalled viruses that steal passwords, open doors for hackers and make computers spew spam. computer users have been warned for years about virus threats from downloading Internet porn and opening suspicious e-mail attachments. Now they run the risk of picking up a digital infection just by plugging a new gizmo into their PC's.
Recent cases reviewed by The Associated Press include some of the most widely used tech devices: Apple iPods, digital picture frames sold by Target and Best Buy, and TomTom navigation gear. In most cases, factories in CHINA --- where many companies have turned to keep prices low --- are the source.
So far, the virus problem appears to come from lax quality control, perhaps a careless worker plugging an infected music player into a factory computer used for testing, rather than organized sabotage by hackers or the factories.
( I TEND TO BELIEVE THIS IS DELIBERATE SABOTAGE BY CHINA...) It's the digital equivalent of the recent series of tainted products traced to CHINA, including toxic toothpaste, poisonous pet food and toy trains coated in lead paint.
Sloppiness is the simplest explanation, BUT not the only one. If a virus is introduced at an earlier stage of production by a corrupt employee or a hacker when software is uploaded to the gadget, then the problem could be far more serious and widespread. Knowing how many devices have been sold, or tracking the viruses with any precision, is impossible because of the secrecy kept by eletronics makers and the companies they hire to build their product.
But, given the nature of mass manufacturing, the numbers could be huge. It's like the old cockroach thing, you flip the lights on in the kitchen and they run away.... You think you've got just one cockroach? There's probably thousands more of those little boogers that you can't see.... Jerry Askew, a Los Angeles computer consultant, bought a new Uniek digital picture frame to surprise his 81 year old mother for her birthday. But when he added family photos, it tried to unload a few surprises of its own.
When he plugged the frame into his PC, his antivirus program alerted him to a threat. The $50 frame, built in CHINA and bought at Target, was infected with four viruses, including one that steals passwords. " You expect quality control coming out of the manufacturers," said Askew, " You don't expect that sort of thing to be on there." Security experts say the malicious software apparently is being loaded at the final stage of production, when gadgets are pulled from the assembly line and plugged into a computer to make sure everything works. If the testing computer is infected, say, by a worker who used it to charge his own infected MP3 player, the digital germ can spread to anything else that gets plugged in.
The recent infections might be accidental, but security experts say they point out an avenue of attack that could be exploited by hackers. We'll probably see a steady increase over time, the hackers are still in a bit of a testing period, they're trying to figure out if its really worth it. Thousands of people whose antivirus software isn't up to date might have been infected by new products without even knowing it, experts warn. And even protective software may not be enough.
In one case, digital frames sold at Sam's Club contained a previously unknown bug that not only steals online gaming passwords but disables antivirus software, according to secutity researchers at Computer Associates.
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