True story, just came in as feedback from a reader of Sunbelt Security News (SSN):
I was reading your latest issue of SSN and the article about scanning iPods reminded me of an incident I had this past Spring. I had purchased (several months prior to this incident) a “refurbished” iPod from a reputable seller and plugged the USB cable into a machine I had just reformatted.
I had everything nicely installed BUT I forgot to disable the USB “auto-play” function. Thankfully I was also trialing VIPRE on this same machine at the time since as soon as I plugged in the cable VIPRE immediately grabbed an autorun.inf file. I had VIPRE scan the entire iPod and it found several traces of a worm. I submitted the files to Virus Total and (thankfully) VIPRE was only one of a handful to detect the malicious autorun.inf file.
So I guess the moral of my story is to remember that iPods can also store files like any other portable USB memory devices and to be careful with “refurbished” memory devices even if they come from a reputable dealer.
Really enjoy reading SSN. Keep up the good work!
Edward
Alex Eckelberry