Taiwan Screams Conspiracy In Hard Drive Debacle


250,000+ readers!

Home

Windows Tutorials

Taiwan Screams Conspiracy In Hard Drive Debacle
by Ian Paul on 20071116 @ 08:03AM EST | google it | send to friends
Channel: Windows | Infopackets Gazette | (related terms: virus, maxtor, units)

Last week, Maxtor external hard drives in Taiwan were discovered to be preloaded with Trojan horse malware. Approximately 1800 units were contaminated, but only 300 were believed to be sold. Based in two files, autorun.inf and ghost.pif, the program was designed to automatically upload any saved data to two web sites based in China: www.nice8.org and www.we168.org. (Source: taipeitimes.com)

When the Taipei Times broke the story on Sunday, investigators made claims of a Chinese plot to spy on its tiny island neighbor. Since China has been known to run Internet- and technology-based spying in the past, investigators said it was likely Chinese authorities were involved. Adding fuel to the fire was the fact that the "infected" models were the same type typically used in Taiwanese government offices.

The following day investigators modified their suspicions when the culprit turned out to be one of Seagate's subcontractors. Neither Seagate nor authorities released the name of the contractor or what part the company played in the manufacturing process. (Source: taipeitimes.com)

This is the second report this year of Maxtor hard drives being sold with malicious software installed. In September, anti-virus maker Kaspersky Lab issued a report stating that Maxtor units for sale in the Netherlands were preloaded with the virus Win32.AutoRun.ah.

During the Dutch incident, the virus (also hidden in autorun.inf and GHOST.PIF files) searched for gaming passwords and deleted MP3 files. It was surmised that the software most likely found its way onto the drives during formatting. At the time, a spokesperson for Maxtor's parent company, Seagate Technologies, said it was unlikely the virus could have operated as Kaspersky claimed because Maxtor storage units do not come with software installed. "The drive is formatted," the spokesperson said, "But I have never heard of a virus that lives in the master boot record." (Source: theregister.co.uk)

There is no evidence to link the Taiwanese and Dutch events as part of some larger scheme, and it seems unlikely since the malware operated differently in each case. However, considering that Seagate products have been hit twice it might be wise for the company to re-evaluate its supply chain.

Recent articles (from all channels):

2008/05/12 Today in History: for Monday, May 12, 2008
2008/05/12 [ShellX 20080512]: 'Remote Manager', and 'Cyber Bandwidth ...
2008/05/12 Video Gaming Trade Group Struggling
2008/05/12 T-Mobile Finally Joins 3G Phone Race
2008/05/12 Apple Slammed by Environment Watchdog
2008/05/09 [ShellX 20080509]: 'Advanced Run', and 'Diver Windows Manager'
2008/05/09 Texas Refuses Facebook Friend Request
2008/05/09 Photo-Enforcement Technology Replaces Officers On Patrol
2008/05/09 Cuban Government Says 'Ok Computer'
2008/05/09 Excel Can E-Mail Your Weekly Reports For You!
2008/05/08 [ShellX 20080508]: 'Shell Enhancer', and 'Lansweeper'
2008/05/08 Xobni: MS Outlook Social Networking Technology for your Inbox
2008/05/08 Music Companies Jump on GTA IV Bandwagon
2008/05/08 Fascinating: Memristor to replace Binary
2008/05/08 Adobe Hopes To Make Flash Master Of The (Mobile) Universe
2008/05/08 Spiffy Envelopes and Labels in MS Word
2008/05/07 [ShellX 20080507]: 'Winbin2iso', and 'Loop Typer'
2008/05/07 Yahoo Adds Security Warnings To Search Results
2008/05/07 Apple to Lose Money on iTunes Movie Releases
2008/05/07 Amazon.com takes New York Tax to Court
2008/05/07 Need Glasses for the Slide Sorter View in MS PowerPoint?
2008/05/07 After Winning The DVD Format War, Blu-Ray Sales Tank
2008/05/06 [ShellX 20080506]: 'Visual Basic 6.0 Portable', and 'Double-...
2008/05/06 Yahoo Outsources to Jajah
2008/05/06 New HP Circuit Could Change Technology Forever
2008/05/06 Movie Downloads To Match DVD Release Dates
2008/05/06 Microsoft Ends Yahoo Bid
2008/05/05 [ShellX 20080505]: 'Ie7 Pro', and 'Desktop Ok'
2008/05/05 The WB Network Hops Online
2008/05/05 Microsoft Slashes Price of Xbox 360 Overseas
2008/05/05 Google CEO Wants YouTube to Take More of Your Money

--

Subscription Management

To subscribe to our newsletter, or to read past issues:

http://www.infopackets.com/windows+newsletter.htm

To remove or change your subscription information, visit:

http://www.infopackets.com/remove+change+email.htm