Best Buy Private Label Digital Photo Frame Ships With Trojan Pre-Installed
Engadget reports that they have a leaked internal memo from Best Buy about a digital photo frame that shipped with a Trojan pre-installed
Here's the memo:
Earlier this month, it came to our attention that some units of the Insignia 10.4-inch digital photo frame (SKU 8483866) have a known Trojan virus. This virus was pre-installed during the manufacturing process. It affects only Windows applications and will only be initiated if the digital picture frame is connected to a PC via a USB cable. Customers who have not connected the digital picture frame to a PC, or those who have updated anti-virus software should be fully protected.A recall might have been appropriate here. Just a suggestion.While the virus is old and is easily removed from the picture frame by up-to-date anti-virus software, all units were pulled from shelves the first week of January as a precautionary measure to protect our customers. Those units will be returned via the standard warehouse send back process and the model is now discontinued. Once a solution has been tested and confirmed, a letter will be sent to customers who purchased the product. Geek Squad employees have instructions to resolve the issue in the meantime. If a customer returns one of these units to your store or has questions or concerns about a virus, please direct them to the Geek Squad. Please note: No other Insignia digital picture frame products are affected by this issue.
Infection alert: Insignia 10.4-inch photo frame kindly bundled with trojan [Engadget] (Thanks, Steven!)
(Photo:cmorran123)
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Comments:
Oh Best Buy, what won't you horribly screw up?
Best Buy, now stealing your porn with 110% higher efficiency.
Is Geek Squad fixing it for free? Probably not.
Well, it's only bad if you connect it via usb to a Windows PC. That has to be only a small fraction of purchasers... ;)
Am I the only one who thought they were talking about Trojan condoms?
Man, do I ever need that afternoon coffee.
Bet that person that posted on here about price problems with a digital photo frame a couple of weeks ago is glad they bought a Kodak!
@ekthesy: No... LOL between this and "Skank found in Polly Pocket toy" It's obviously "subtle sexual innuendo day" here.
Oh...that kind of trojan
Geeze, hope no one purchased an extended warranty since having a virus installed would void the warranty. These people are shameless! When is Best Buy going to join Lechmere, Zares, Ames, Wards, Woolworth, Bradles and all the other stores out of business?
Ugh, I hate that particular Best Buy more than most. Actually, pretty much any big box store crammed into Manhattan annoys me, with the possible exception of the Home Depot. But the Home Depot is evil beyond evil, so I tend to avoid it even though it's nice inside.
It affects only Windows applications and will only be initiated if the digital picture frame is connected to a PC via a USB cable.
haha, I found that too funny. The phrasing makes it sound like that would be in the minority.
That will be $75 for a virus removal, please.
@Bay State Darren:
Likely they'll fix it for free but use it as an upsell for their oh-so-reasonably priced antivirus installs and backups. They never miss an opportunity.
One of the guys I ride with had this virus show up when he connected the frame his kids got him for Christmas. Simple to remove but it would be a huge PITA for somone not computer savy. I dont really thing its Best Buys fault they don't actually manufacture the frames themselves. its just the stores brand product. Yeah a recall would have been a good idea.
@GavinEstecado: I'm not sure Master Overlord Denton is going to be too happy when he finds out Consumerist linked to Engadget though.
@mgyqmb: Only $75? The last time a friend of mine went to Best Buy's Geek Squad to remove a trojan they decided it was best to wipe the HD for $200.
BEST BUY SUCKETH.................
The key sentence in the article is:
It affects only Windows applications and...
Cough.
Hey, did you guys see the new MacBook Air ads? :D
Yeah, we saw them. For a couple hundred more you can get something much more powerful. Therefore, waste of money, just something else for Jobs to have a smug face about.
There doesn't need to be a recall. It can be removed with a simple virus scan. You probably would put pictures on a memory card anyway.
Thanks China!
Wow that sucks. I purchased one of these for my non-Net-connected parents and loaded it up with pics for Xmas. Saw this Trojan activity on my laptop on 12/24 and put two and two together. Symantec stopped it in its tracks, but still. hehe. Good one, BB.
Of course ThinkGeek has a 15" for the same price ($200) the week after the holidays.
The virus is likely embedded in the firmware for the frame, and that usually cannot be updated at the point of sale or by the consumer.
The more recent wifi-enabled frames do have consumer-level firmware updates. I have two of the eStarling photo frames, 256MB RAM, wifi b/g enabled that I have updated firmware for the wifi.
Q
Lead in the toys, viruses on electronics - why must you hate us so, China? Oh yeah, you're Commies... but with cheap labor, so you're oh-so-adorable!
I think the thinking about connecting to a pc not being the norm is that most people will simply insert a memory card into the frame rather than syncing it to a pc. Especially the non-tech-savvy who wouldn't have an antivirus program to begin with and who keep all of their pictures on their cameras memory card because they don't know how to sync it to their pc.
whoa counterpoint, take it easy. China.. Commies? maybe thats their way of saying fuck you to capitalism.
I'm sorry, I just have to say it, as they forgot to clearly mention it.
Macs Unaffected
My husband got me 8" Insignia for bday, remote didn't work, so I took it back to BB Jan 13. They were out of 8" ones. The guy in camera dept said he would split difference with me on a 10" Insignia. I said I wanted to think about it...WOW! I am so glad I didn't buy that one! ps..still on the shelf on Jan 18...BB in Ft. Myers...camera guy said he would put it back for me. NOT
"If a customer returns one of these units to your store or has questions or concerns about a virus, please direct them to the Geek Squad."
Scammers, so if they mess up by not informing customers, they try to get more money out of them by sending them to geek squad....
How terrible...(I know atleast one person will fall for this.....)
oh best buy i rue the day i stepped into your tech playground...seriously i was wondering where those viruses came from as all the porn sites i visit are top notch...now i know...what i want to know is geek squad going to clean up my registry for me too (svchost.exe not found error every time i start up)...i doubt it...good thing i read an article the other day on taking big companies to small claims court...
in later news mac users find themselves unable to transfer photos to the offending picture frame as their air has no memory card reader and lone usb port is currently charging iphone. subsequently they are unaffected by the virus.
There was a huge news in Taiwan not long ago where brand new Segate/Maxtor harddrives were found to have trojans pre-installed and would send sensitive data to China servers once installed.
@ekthesy:
Funny how in the real world trojans stop viruses, but in the computing world they spread them...
Ahh, my two favorite blogs ... mentioned in one place.