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24/05/2010 13:38:57
IBM has been left red-faced after handing out malware-infected USB sticks at an information security conference in Australia. Delegates at the AusCERT conference in Queensland were given the complimentary devices at an IBM booth but have since been contacted by the company after it emerged that they had been infected with two examples of malware: W32/LibHack-A and W32/Agent-FWF, according to security company Sophos. "At the AusCERT conference this week, you may have collected a complimentary USB key from the IBM booth," IBM wrote to affected delegates. "Unfortunately we have discovered that some of these USB keys contained malware and we suspect that all USB keys may be affected." Sophos's senior technology consultant, Graham Cluley, said outsourcing could have resulted in the error. "My guess is that they didn't check the USB sticks before handing them out. Maybe they out-sourced the creation of the USB content to a third party, and they weren't careful enough," he said. "After all, if an infected PC was used to create the "image" of the USB drive then it would have been easy for that disc image to be infected and copied onto every USB stick they handed out." Copyright © Press Association 2010
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