Olympus Digital Camera Ships With a Worm

An anonymous reader writes "Olympus Japan has issued a warning to customers who have bought its Stylus Tough 6010 digital compact camera that it comes with an unexpected extra — a virus on its internal memory card. The Autorun worm cannot infect the camera itself, but if it is plugged into a Windows computer's USB port, it can copy itself onto the PC, then subsequently infect any attached USB device. Olympus says it 'humbly apologizes' for the incident, which is believed to have affected some 1,700 units. The company said it will make every effort to improve its quality control procedures in future. Security company Sophos says that more companies need to wake up to the need for better quality control to ensure that they don't ship virus-infected gadgets. At the same time, consumers should learn to always ensure Autorun is disabled, and scan any device for malware before they use it on their computer."

Comments

Intentional or accidental?

[Nemilar]

I hate to ask the obvious question, but the article doesn't address it -- could this be intentional, or is it accidental?

I would imagine that some shady overboss would be willing to pay a relatively sizable amount of money (especially considering that the amount of money you'd have to pay someone in a Chinese factory to do this would not be very high) for the opportunity to infect potentially tens of thousands of computers.

Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

At the same time, consumers should learn to always ensure Autorun is disabled, and scan any device for malware before they use it on their computer."

Seriously?

It's getting to the point where running a computer is turning into a full time job. I need to scan every single product I buy before using it? Isn't that why I bother to pay a premium to get name-brand products from legitimate outlets?

I'm annoyed that the ultimate time-saving device is becoming more and more of a chore. I'm expected to spend hours researching the ways in which to harden my browser against cookie tracking, to rate virus scanners using contradictory and confusing standards, to assess information that requires a degree in computer science everytime I want to get a PC game to work, to pull out my law degree everytime I use an online product or dive through an EULA, and now this?

I mean come on, where's it going to end? Should I do independant surge tests on the next microwave I buy before plugging it in? What about my printer, does it need a scan too? Should I take my newly purchased tires to an independant assessor? How about that new CD I bought?
 

Re:Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, but it does connect to my electrics. Should I have to worry that every new gadget in my place is going to cause a fire? No, because we as a society decided that was not the way we wanted to live our lives and we adjusted the legal landscape accordingly.

Re:Dodged a bullet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't see it mentioned in the few dozen comments at the moment, but "more companies need to wake up to the need for better quality control to ensure that they don't ship virus-infected gadgets. At the same time, consumers should learn to always ensure Autorun is disabled" blames the manufacturer of the drive, blames the consumer, but skirts around blaming the OS in question.

I know it's somewhat passe to pick on an OS because it remains the one commonality in malware infections, but seriously, a design as defective as Autorun's implementation should be beaten with large sticks every chance we can get until it's a bloody pulp, or no more than a stain. Srsly.

Autorun?!

[dido]

I wonder what bright soul at Microsoft thought it a good idea to extend autorun to all types of removable media. It was tolerable if annoying for CDs and DVDs, but it became downright dangerous once USB sticks and similar rewritable media were included. I wonder why they haven't decided to push an update that disables or limits the damage that this misbegotten feature can do.

Re:Dodged a bullet.

[denmarkw00t]

Someone mod this man up! I totally agree that blaming the OS is a bit passe, but Autorun is also the worst "feature" I've ever encountered - "Oh, you plugged something in that has a filesystem I understand? And an executable it wants me to run? Ok."

Dumb.

Re:Dodged a bullet.

[the_raptor]

To turn USB autorun off on Windows XP you have to edit the registry. The GUI options do not apply to USB drives for some retarded reason.

I was alerted to this when I bought a USB drive that came with autorunning software (to do encryption and other rubbish) and was surprised that it ran despite me turning autorun off as a part of standard configuration since the late 90's.