You *might* want to do a low level format on that new harddrive...

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You *might* want to do a low level format on that new h... - 11/12/2007 12:30:11 AM

farglebargle

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N.B.: Linux users are unaffected. I expect Mac users are also unaffected.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/11/11/2003387202

quote:

Portable hard discs sold locally and produced by US disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology have been found to carry Trojan horse viruses that automatically upload to Beijing Web sites anything the computer user saves on the hard disc, the Investigation Bureau said.

Around 1,800 of the portable Maxtor hard discs, produced in Thailand, carried two Trojan horse viruses: autorun.inf and ghost.pif, the bureau under the Ministry of Justice said.

The tainted portable hard disc uploads any information saved on the computer automatically and without the owner's knowledge to www.nice8.org and www.we168.org, the bureau said.

The affected hard discs are Maxtor Basics 500G discs.

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RE: You *might* want to do a low level format on that n... - 11/12/2007 12:34:31 AM

ownedgirlie

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Wow, I had to go check. I have a Maxtor 300GB. Thanks for putting the notice up.

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RE: You *might* want to do a low level format on that n... - 11/12/2007 12:40:28 AM

Real0ne

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you must be talking about an fdish? i havent done a LL format since the old 4 gig drives were out.

i suppose any wipe software could be used too and just write 1's and 0's to the whole thing

< Message edited by Real0ne -- 11/12/2007 12:41:58 AM >

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RE: You *might* want to do a low level format on that n... - 11/12/2007 12:49:48 AM

farglebargle

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the command "shred /dev/sdb" will totally wipeout the drive enumerated 2nd on the SCSI bus. ( for example )

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RE: You *might* want to do a low level format on that n... - 11/12/2007 1:05:59 AM

UtopianRanger

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quote:

ORIGINAL: farglebargle

N.B.: Linux users are unaffected. I expect Mac users are also unaffected.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/11/11/2003387202

quote:

Portable hard discs sold locally and produced by US disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology have been found to carry Trojan horse viruses that automatically upload to Beijing Web sites anything the computer user saves on the hard disc, the Investigation Bureau said.

Around 1,800 of the portable Maxtor hard discs, produced in Thailand, carried two Trojan horse viruses: autorun.inf and ghost.pif, the bureau under the Ministry of Justice said.

The tainted portable hard disc uploads any information saved on the computer automatically and without the owner's knowledge to www.nice8.org and www.we168.org, the bureau said.

The affected hard discs are Maxtor Basics 500G discs.

Yanno....whenever I visit Fry's, the Maxtor boxed discs are always on sale at an unusually cheap price. I'm not a guru by any stretch of the imagination -- But I've always wondered why they are always so cheap.

- R

< Message edited by UtopianRanger -- 11/12/2007 1:07:51 AM >

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RE: You *might* want to do a low level format on that n... - 11/12/2007 4:31:17 AM

YesMistressIrish

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quote:

ORIGINAL: farglebargle

N.B.: Linux users are unaffected. I expect Mac users are also unaffected.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/11/11/2003387202

quote:

Portable hard discs sold locally and produced by US disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology have been found to carry Trojan horse viruses that automatically upload to Beijing Web sites anything the computer user saves on the hard disc, the Investigation Bureau said.

Around 1,800 of the portable Maxtor hard discs, produced in Thailand, carried two Trojan horse viruses: autorun.inf and ghost.pif, the bureau under the Ministry of Justice said.

The tainted portable hard disc uploads any information saved on the computer automatically and without the owner's knowledge to www.nice8.org and www.we168.org, the bureau said.

The affected hard discs are Maxtor Basics 500G discs.

Thanks to the OP!

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RE: You *might* want to do a low level format on that n... - 11/12/2007 8:04:41 AM

FirmhandKY

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Nice to know info, FB.

I own one of the disk. I transferred about 500 movies onto it for my youngest son's amusement.

I never - never - run software off of things like that (at least on initial installation). In fact, I have autorun disabled, and on this, and my other portable HD's, I either erase their on-board software, or delete it entirely.

I have to say, though, that the Seagate 500 Basics are pretty nifty drives. I've got several other high capacity HD (couple of terry's, and some of those small WD 250 laptop drives), and the Seagate seems to be the quickest, and most trouble free of the bunch.

FYI, I always Fdisk any HD I buy. A lot of these high capacity USB drives come in FAT32, for supposed compatibility with earlier versions of Windows.

Firm

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RE: You *might* want to do a low level format on that n... - 11/12/2007 10:02:27 AM

OrionTheWolf

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Fast reply:

And why would this not be seen as an attack upon American security? How long are we going to sit back and allow China to fuck with us economically and via technology?

Orion

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RE: You *might* want to do a low level format on that n... - 11/12/2007 10:14:21 AM

FirmhandKY

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Orion,

I'm not sure any of the drives with that software made it to the US. The report is about Tawain, from Tawain. I've not seen anything about it in the US press.

Firm

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RE: You *might* want to do a low level format on that n... - 11/12/2007 10:18:54 AM

OrionTheWolf

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I am sniffing around now. Since I have contact with alot of IT people that use these drives, I only find a few reports of this, and none from a reputable source yet. It would not suprise me though, we have been playing cyber wars with the Chinese for a long time now.

Orion

quote:

ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY

Orion,

I'm not sure any of the drives with that software made it to the US. The report is about Tawain, from Tawain. I've not seen anything about it in the US press.

Firm

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RE: You *might* want to do a low level format on that n... - 11/12/2007 10:25:29 AM

OrionTheWolf

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Other than a few comments on one forum, I have not found much on it. If it is this isolated, then you should scan the drive if you get one, but I doubt it was a mass infection, or there would be a hell of alot more noise.

Orion

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RE: You *might* want to do a low level format on that n... - 11/12/2007 10:47:31 AM

farglebargle

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It appears to be a China v. Taiwan thing, from the article.

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