iPods Come Complete With Windows Virus 672
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."
This sounds a bit suspicious... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Upset with Windows? (Score:2, Interesting)
I own an iBook. The Apple IIe was my first computer (unless you count a breadboard, some dip switches, and two numeric LED displays). I own Apple stock. I think Mac OS X is the bees knees.
That said, Apple needs to take their collective heads out of their asses. If an executable shell script was "accidentally" included as simple as:
#!/bin/sh
rm -rf /
You need to make it autorun (I won't tell you how, but it can be done, and is quite handy for non-malicious uses). No antivirus software would detect this, no Windows machines would be affected, and every Mac you plugged that iPod into would be royally fucked, even if not run as root.
Exploiting process weaknesses... (Score:4, Interesting)
Imagine the scenario: an unscrupulous individual happens across an unannounced vulnerability, and develops an exploit. Rather than building it into a worm/botnet replication mechanism, he finds a way to load it onto a consumer electronics device (mp3 player, flash drive, camera, etc) and lets the well-established merchandise distribution network take it from there. Weeks/months later, at a predetermined time, an attack can be launched simultaneously from hundreds/thousands of locations, and we have a nasty problem on our hands.
load of crap (Score:2, Interesting)
Cue the wavy-dream-sequence-announcing-television animation....
Somehow, in an economic fluke, the Apple II flourishes and paves the way for a GUI operating system code-named..OS I. Incredibly, as years go by, Microsoft remains a niche player in the market, known mostly for its creative pieces of software, and Apple owns 98% of the desktop scene.
Even more incredible is how much smarter the Apple devs are than any alternate universe where, say, Microsoft would be in their position, and despite the efforts of all the l33t haxxors out there, Apple's products, now up to OS X, remain completely virus free. Who'd a thunk it?
I'd like to see Apple own even 75% of the market share and not have major issues with viruses and those who write them. It is easy to sit back and take pot shots at the leader when you are a very distant, distant second place runner in the game. If only those devs at Apple had been smart enough to create something better than Windoze back in the early 90's, they might find themselves in a similar situation.
Bad form, Apple, or should we change your name to Sour Grapes?
Re:Come again?? (Score:5, Interesting)
Perhaps someone tested a prototype on an infected windows machine, to make sure some minor manufacturing change didn't bork the device. Then after working on it a bit they got it to work, copied the image over, and all of a sudden you have iPods being pumped out of the factor with a virus on them. Clearly just a guess, but if something similar to that happened and I was Apple I'd sure as hell be pissed that Windows lack of security caused my hardware devices to get factory shipped with a virus on them.
Note that this scenario is supported by TFA: "Joswiak said it was traced to a particular Windows machine in the manufacturing lines of a contract manufacturer that builds the iPods for Apple."
In that context, Apple has every right to be irritated. Either way though you're right, it's a pretty stupid PR move to make a comment like that. They should just apologize, fix the problem, and move on.
Re:Come again?? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Come again?? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Just goes to show. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Good job, Jobs! (Score:3, Interesting)
Getting people to care (Score:3, Interesting)
True enough. They should care though, they like to pitch themselves as the 'good' computer company and this little effort is hardly better than the Sony rootkit debacle writ small.
I am just wondering how things would go around here if the situation were reversed - like if a Microsoft product came preinstalled with some software that caused damage to OSX systems. Something tells me that the mob with torches, pitchforks and turtlenecks wouldn't be storming Apple's headquarters...
Re:Come again?? (Score:1, Interesting)
I was under an impression that the processes around manufacturing need to be certified, not hardware or software.
Re:Also shows... (Score:5, Interesting)
Do they? Last I heard there was a "proof of concept," but IIRC even it required user interaction to propagate. I've never heard of a real, self-propagating, OS X virus in the wild.
Re:Also shows... (Score:3, Interesting)
If you've ever tried installing Windows XP or 2000 onto a SATA drive using the generic retail box CD you'd realize how close to reality this is
Re:Also shows... (Score:3, Interesting)
Did you disable journaling? It should work fine after that.
Re:twitter, please read this (Score:3, Interesting)