HP USB Key Found Infested with Worms

Hewlett Packard Australia has notified people that optional USB keys sent with some of its HP Proliant file servers are infected with malware, getting attention to the growth in use of USB devices as a means to distribute viral infections.

The low danger worms, Fakerecy and SillyFDC, were found in a batch of 256MB and 1GB USB keys that shipped with the file servers. It is undetermined how numerous infected keys, used for installing optional floppy-disc devices to servers, were distributed. An infected computer in the manufacturing plant is the likely cause of the incident.

The computer virus distributed is not thought as an great threat, due in part to the low number of estimated users still utilizing floppy disk devices for data storage and that most hackers don't find the computer virus valuable.

This is not the first incident of infection to come out of the factory; others have involved digital photo frames and similar products. AntiVirus computer software, if up to date, should find both of the computer viruses involved in the HP Proliant USB attack as long the AntiVirus protection was installed after the floppy disk was added to the machine. Disabling auto-run thwarts both Fakerecy and SillyFDC and may be the advisable option.

Hewlett-Packard's notice, via local security clearing house AUSCert, can be found here: http://www.auscert.org.au/render.html?it=9077. The SANS Institutes's Internet Storm Centre has advice on avoiding USB malware-related hazard here: http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=4247.

Hardware devices departing the factory with malware is growing more common these days, raising the call for for good software. For a limited time, you can obtain free internet virus protection.

Article Source: http://www.writerdatabase.com

Christopher is a security consultant for Lexan Systems L.L.C and founder of MX Police. For a limited time you can obtain free internet virus protection. You are welcome to reproduce this article on Computer Security related web site, as long as you reproduce the article in full, including this resource box and links to our websites.

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