Spy ware on Chinese drives - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

guage · #1 11-23-2007, 04:43 PM

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58819

Seagate disks were programmed to upload passwords secretly to Beijing websites

One week after a Chinese subcontractor manufacturing computer hard drives for sale in America was discovered to have been placing a Trojan horse on them that would upload users' passwords to a website in Beijing, the manufacturer says it doesn't believe the Chinese government was involved.

Seagate Technology, a New York Stock Exchange-listed company, told WND: "We have no indication, nor any reason to believe, the Chinese authorities were involved at all."

The report first surfaced in Asia in a story by the Taipei Times, which said some 1,800 Maxtor Basics 3200 hard drives manufactured in China contained two Trojan horses programmed to upload secretly to websites in Beijing anything the computer saves on the drive.

Webopedia.com defines "Trojan horse" as "a destructive program that masquerades as a benign application." Unlike viruses, the site says, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves "but they can be just as destructive."

Investigation Bureau officials from the Taipei Ministry of Justice suspect Chinese government authorities were involved as part of "an aggressive spying program relying on information technology and the Internet," the Times reported.

Woody Monroe, a spokesman for Seagate, confirmed to WND the hard drives in question did contain Trojan horses when marketed to consumers.

In a corporate statement provided toWND, Seagate argued the Trojan horses on the hard drives gathered only passwords for online games.

(Story continues below)

The company argued, "Our investigation also determined that the introduction of the virus (sic) was accidental and was not purposeful or malicious."

WND asked Monroe the following questions by e-mail:

* What in your investigation permitted you to determine the incident was accidental?

* Why didn't you fire the contract manufacturer?

* Can you identify the contract manufacturer?

* What percentage of your branded products are you manufacturing in China?

Monroe responded, "I don't have the info you requested at this time."

Seagate's corporate statement further claimed all hard drives leaving the Chinese subcontractor are now clean.

"We have put additional stringent measures and procedures in place at the contract manufacturer to prevent a similar occurrence from happening again," the company said.

A flurry of reader posts on computer websites alerted Maxtor Basics 3200 purchasers to the dangers of the malware added by the Chinese subcontractor.

One poster on Engadget.com wrote: "How convenient – your shiny new Maxtor Basics Personal Storage 3200 may have come preloaded with a nasty virus right out of the box."

The poster continued, "Apparently, the molar virus is one that gets its kicks by searching for passwords to online games (World of Warcraft included) and sending them back to a 'server located in China,' and if that wasn't enough, it can also disable virus detection software and delete other molar viruses without breaking into a sweat."

Another website poster quipped, "Never to fear, I have a brand, spanking new Anti-Spyware program called, Made-in-China Killer of all Spyware. I'm ready, bring on the bad guys!"

Seagate has offered purchasers of the affected unit a 60-day free download of Kaspersky protection software to scan and clean hard drives.

To determine if a Maxtor Basics 3200 is infected with a Trojan horse, a purchaser can call Seagate customer service department with the unit's serial number for identification.

The Seagate website lists 28 of the industry's 32 anti-virus software titles that have updated their definition list.

Seagate's website claims all of the known games affected are Chinese, with the exception of World of Warcraft.

Computer expert Adrian Kingsley-Hughes warns all readers there is a moral to the Seagate story: "Practice 'safe sectors' and scan, or preferably wipe, all drives before bringing them into the ecosystem. Don't assume that a drive is going to be blank and malware free. Trust no one."

catmandoo62 · #2 11-23-2007, 05:02 PM

just online game passwords! YEAH RIGHT.

sixto · #3 11-23-2007, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catmandoo62

just online game passwords! YEAH RIGHT.

You've never played citibank.com or bofa.com?

Sixto
87 300D

Mistress · #4 11-24-2007, 08:51 AM

Chalk(sp) one up for One Hung Lo....

Dubyagee · #5 11-24-2007, 08:53 AM

Wouldn't installing an OS erase the spyware?

raymr · #6 11-24-2007, 09:51 AM

How does spyware "accidentlly" get on mass produced disk drives anyway? I always thought they were manufactured in highly clean and controlled environments and then sealed.

Gurkha · #7 11-24-2007, 10:48 AM

One word, conspiracy, only way this can happen is to embed the so called Trojan in the firmware but again, highly unlikely as any firewall or HIPS would catch it. Its a concentrated attack on Chinese manufacturing

Botnst · #8 11-24-2007, 12:58 PM

Wow. They poison children with lead and date rape drugs on toys. Now this. WTF is going on in China?

Anybody want to buy some nice Chinese catfish or shrimp or prawns or crawfish? MMmmmm-mmm, good!

B

raymr · #9 11-24-2007, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botnst

Wow. They poison children with lead and date rape drugs on toys. Now this. WTF is going on in China?

Anybody want to buy some nice Chinese catfish or shrimp or prawns or crawfish? MMmmmm-mmm, good!

B

Lets just say, You get what you pay for. After all, safety and compliance cost money. No time for that kind of distraction when you are concentrating on beating last years trade numbers!

TwitchKitty · #10 11-25-2007, 10:53 AM

I posted about spyware on flash drives/thumb drives a year ago or so. I still haven't seen this mentioned much. It is a real problem. Or at least the US Air Force seems to think it is.

#11 11-25-2007, 11:01 AM

Get a mac.

Gurkha · #12 11-25-2007, 11:04 AM

I use Linux and Mac too is Unix based, although both are very secure compared to Windows, neither will be invincible from hacks of this sort in indeed they are being implemented.

mgburg · #13 11-25-2007, 12:15 PM

Let see...

Chinese Officials (COs) find a "private" contractor (Chinese-decent) or Chinese Bureau-politico (that the COs are having a "little problem" with) and announce to the whole world that the "offender" will soon be joining his ancestors in the land of the "soon-to-be-forgottens" with a little help from a cheap sleep aid (that under-utilitlized element - lead) and an ancient Chineese secret (gun-powder).

Yeah...how many computer-geeks have the COs pushed into "never-never-again-land?"

Seagate® knows that if they EVEN ATTEMPT to point a finger of rigid-indignation towards the COs, that three fingers will be pointing back at them and if that happens, not only will the COs put Seagate® "out to pasture" - but they'll also slam shut the cover, put the nails in the coffin and bury ANY AMERICAN COMPANY that dares to blame them while that company is in, or hopes to return to, their country, using the COs cheap labor and avoiding EXPENSIVE enviromental laws and regulations...

Yeah...Seagate® has it "right" - the Chi-Coms didn't know anything about the big, bad Malware programs in Seagate's® products...

...and the COs have "no idea" where the information that the Malware took ended up....

...China is S-U-C-H a B-I-G country.

Watch your favorite news-outlet for the dangling-Chinese corpse.

And, in the future, check the label of any Chinese-made and imported product.

You'll know it passes government standards by the little "hanging-Chinaman" icon on the label, just above the UPC-Barcode.

That label will serve to insure that the product you bought, with American dollars, has passed the test of Chinese-Government Integrity...whatever that may be or mean.