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iPods Come Complete With Windows Virus

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the nyah-nyah dept.

kaufmanmoore writes "Cnet is reporting that some video Ipods made after September 12th have the RavMonE virus loaded onto it. In Apple's announcement they take a swipe at Windows security and encourage Windows users to install anti virus applications."

16 of 672 comments (clear)

  1. Just goes to show. by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple's products are made (and to some degree, designed) in China just like everybody else's. I wonder how many other memory products (that is, USB mass storage devices) have similar issues.

    --
    THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
  2. Uhh, What? by aweraw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not one to try and defend Windows security with a straight face, but this is apples fault for shipping infected ipods. They failed to protect their customers, regardless of windows lack-lustre security

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    5468652047616D65
  3. Also shows... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The class of Apple to complain about Windows being susceptible to viruses that Apple Quality Control fails to catch. Maybe Apple QC should install AV as well when they develop for windows?

    1. Re:Also shows... by udderly · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why is this a troll? I'm a serious Mac fan, but that little "jab at Microsoft" *was* pretty classless.

      WARNING: OBLIGATORY CAR ANALOGY!!!
      When I was a kid we were firing a golf ball out of homemade cannon and broke the neighbor's windshield. Crap, what was I thinking? I should have blamed Ford for not making their windshields stronger!

    2. Re:Also shows... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
      "Maybe Apple QC should install AV as well when they develop for windows?"

      I heard (from a reliable source inside Apple) that the virus was preinstalled from the disk manufacturer when they formatted the drives. *shudder* You can see where this can go.

    3. Re:Also shows... by NixLuver · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "And there's no point blaming the Chinese contractor, I'm sure they were just following the Apple procedure, sloppy as it is."

      What do you base this assertion on? How do you know how 'sloppy' the Apple procedure is?

      Many are lambasting Apple because they didn't test every vendor-supplied microdrive for *windows* viruses/virii. They sold 7.7 million ipods, as I understand it. If we grant 'em 10 seconds to hook the drive up and test it - even automated; remember, these drives aren't exactly fast - that's 891 additional days added to that manufacturing model.

      I'm not sure I believe that Apple should necessarily be responsible for a chinese manufacturer's choice of operating system for their production line.

      In fact, in response to the many assertions that Windows is the pre-eminent choice in production line systems... I find it difficult to believe; in my direct experience with seven major production systems and indirect with ten or twelve, only two used Windows, and of them had as their purpose was directly testing production of Windows based computers. A pharmaceutical company I'm familiar with uses HP clusters; a local utility recently switched from SCO to Linux ( I love saying that! ); A PCB assembly machine I dealt with had embedded a BSD variant. A plastics manufacturer I'm familiar with uses Linux and DOS (!) because the hardware manufacturer doesn't want to fix something that's "not broken". I've never even *heard* of Windows being used in production systems anywhere but plants that produce Windows computers.

      --
      Thinking outside my Head
    4. Re:Also shows... by Jack+Pallance · · Score: 5, Funny
      'develop on the platform you are releasing for'

      They would have, but the developers complained about having to use the IPod's scroll wheel to type all of their code.

    5. Re:Also shows... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I once worked on a product, where we had a file on disk called IGNORE.ME. I can't for the life of me remember why.

  4. This sounds a bit suspicious... by msauve · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "it was traced to a particular Windows machine in the manufacturing lines of a contract manufacturer " and "Very few units actually went through that particular station"

    Why is a Windows machine ever connected to an iPod during manufacturing? I'd think for a high volume product like the iPod, there would be dedicated disk duplicators to format/populate the drives, and testing would likewise be done with purpose-designed hardware. Using a Windows PC to do either seems like a crude, inefficient way to do things.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  5. Re:Come again?? by mr_matticus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They didn't blame Microsoft for their failure to stop the iPods from shipping, but there is a certain element to truth to the statement. If you take away the fact that Apple is involved and look at it--a technology product was infected with malware because a Windows PC on the production line was infected and it wasn't caught in time.

    The number of Windows machines on production lines in China is staggering--and if Windows had better security, the spread of viruses and malware wouldn't represent such a massive threat. Simple acts like requesting permission to install new software, etc. would go a long way toward cutting this off. Windows, left to its own devices, happily installs crapware without user intervention or notification, and that makes it harder to KNOW when your computer has been compromised.

    So yeah, Microsoft is dumb in this capacity, but it's still Apple's responsibility.

  6. Re:Trying to push the blame to Microsoft by Skippy_kangaroo · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the site (emphasis mine):

    As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it.


    Hardly a whitewash.

  7. Holy appropriate analogies Batman! by Lactoso · · Score: 5, Funny
    "If I just distributed a device with a virus on it I would not be throwing stones at the security practices of another company."

    Especially not when you live here...

  8. Re:Upset with Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is no such thing as autorun on OS X. If you really have managed to get a script to run automatically as soon as the volume that contains it is mounted, you are exploting a bug somewhere. Please file a bug report.

  9. Re:Good job, Jobs! by Odin's+Raven · · Score: 5, Funny

    Next PC vs Mac commercial, the Apple version:

    PC is wearing a "boy in the plastic bubble" suit, wandering around with a bottle of Formula 409, obsessively wiping down everything he sees. Mac casually strolls up from behind and taps PC on the shoulder of his bubble suit. PC shrieks and starts spraying and wiping the suit. Mac asks what's up, PC starts babbling "Viruses...viruses are everywhere. Anything I touch might kill me. Never clean enough...never...clean...enough". Mac sadly shakes his head and wanders off.

    Next PC vs Mac commercial, the Microsoft version:

    Mac walks over to PC and offers to let PC listen to Mac's iPod. PC puts on the headset, starts tapping his feet and snapping his fingers, then suddenly flops onto his back, goes into convulsions, and dies. Mac slinks off the stage, looking embarassed and guilty. James Earl Jones voiceover grimly intones "iPods kill - buy a Zune".

    --
    A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
  10. Re:nah, this has happened before by buswolley · · Score: 5, Funny

    ITs great. Apple blames Windows for the Virus...but who put it on th ipod?

    --

    A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.

  11. Re:twitter, please read this by skarphace · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Still, this is a case in which the use of a non Microsoft system for pre-loading the iPods would be the appropriate solution at the manufacturing end. Since all that's needed is the ability to create and write to a FAT32 filesystem, I don't see why Linux isn't used; it can even be done automatically on a headless machine that does the loading upon USB insertion.
    How do you know this is what the machine was used for? Maybe it was used as a QA/Testing machine to make sure the iPod works with all systems. Fact is, you don't know.
    --
    Bullish Machine Tzar