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Photo Kiosks Infecting Customers' USB Devices

Posted by kdawson on from the thumb-drive-condoms-in-aisle-four dept.

The Risky Biz blog brings news that Big W, a subsidiary of Woolworths, has Windows-based Fuji photo kiosks in at least some of its stores that don't run antivirus software, and are therefore spreading infections, such as Trojan-Poison-36, via customers' USB storage devices. Here is the account of the original reporter. "It's not just the lack of AV that's the problem... it appears there's been zero thought put into the problem of malware spreading via these kiosks. Why not just treat customers' USB devices as read-only? Why allow the kiosks to write to them at all? It would be interesting to find out which company — Fuji, Big W, or even some other third party — is responsible for the maintenance of the machines. It would also be interesting to find out if there are any liability issues here for Big W in light of its boneheaded lack of security planning."

8 of 288 comments (clear)

  1. Re:One more reason not to use Windows. by Rogerborg · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wouldn't mind if it dumped all the world's infections on my stick.

    Must... resist... "yo momma" joke.

    How much storage space do you mind losing to viruses though? Windows viruses. Come on, unleash your anger!

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  2. While we're tossin' around analogies... by denzacar · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just like with STDs, you can still be a carrier even if you yourself don't suffer from the symptoms.

    And just like with STDs, infecting other people while claiming that you are "immune" kinda makes you a jerk.
    No pun intended.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    1. Re:While we're tossin' around analogies... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      STDs: Annoying if don't read slashdot, easy to ignore if you do.

  3. Re:IT runs FUCKING WINDOWS MAN !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    You're just bitter because the idiots running Woolworths UK couldn't make it competitive enough to stay open so now you have to stalk kids at pick-n-mix's elsewhere perv-boy.

  4. W00t! Windows based kiosks by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 4, Funny

    1. download random pic from Internet.
    2. put it on stick, along with Virus
    3. infect kiosk
    4. from now on, kiosks substitutes customers photos with "random internet pic" from step 1 somewhere between the time the order has been validated, and when it will be printed.
    5. ...
    6. Sit back and watch the fun as customer comes back to pick up his photos...

  5. Re:Windows Read-only mode. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are you sure that Windows is ready for the desktop? I'm not sure my grandmother could handle that...

  6. Re:Windows Read-only mode. by lxs · · Score: 2, Funny

    The mental image of widows mounting USB sticks is overpowering. Best typo ever.

  7. Re:Windows autorun viruses are like vuvuzelas. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    My other car is a Vuvuzela, you insensitive clod