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Worms Found in HP USB Key

Hewlett Packard Australia has warned that USB flash drives shipped with some of its Proliant network servers are infected with a virus, bringing attention to the growth in use of USB devices as a way to spread viral infections.

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

The trojan spread is not interpreted as an enormous threat, due in part to the low amount of estimated users still utilizing floppy disk devices for data storage and that most hackers don't find the virus worthwhile.

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

Hewlett-Packard's advisory, 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 warding off USB malware-related peril here: http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=4247.

Hardware devices going out of the factory with malware is seemly more common these days, raising the call for for strong security. For a limited time, you can get free virus protection.

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

Christopher is a security consultant for Lexan Systems L.L.C and founder of MX Police. For a limited time you can get free 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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