Samsung digital picture frames come with unwelcome Christmas bonus
If you gave or got a Samsung digital photo frame this Christmas, check your model number carefully. The SPF-85H 8” model came with a bonus gift: an installation CD infected with a virus.
Amazon.com contacted buyers to warn that devices bought since October may carry a virus. The problem involves the installation disc, which customers will need to put in their drives to use Frame Manager 1.08, the software for using the photo frame as a USB monitor.
Some discs contain a virus known as W32.Sality.AE, W32/Sality or Troj_Agent.xoo depending on which security source you refer to. The virus includes a keylogger, which could be a significant security risk. It only affects machines running Windows XP.
If you haven’t yet installed the disc, don’t use it. If you do need the software, you can download a safe copy directly from Samsung’s website.
If you have installed the disc and your security software hasn’t picked it up, the chances are you don’t have an infected disk. Most competent anti-virus packages should find and remove this particular virus. That said, it’s probably safest to uninstall the software and reinstall it from Samsung’s site.
If you still have any concerns after this, you can contact Samsung at 1-800-SAMSUNG (1-800-726-7864). If you gave the frame as a gift to somebody who doesn’t have Internet access, they can get a safe replacement CD by calling this number.
Samsung says only a batch of discs have the problem, but isn’t giving any word on how the discs became infected. The Register suggests the logical possibility that the original machine used to burn the discs was itself infected.
There appear to have been some communications problems with the situation. Samsung first issued a customer alert on Nov. 27, but Amazon continued selling it at least into December – it appears to have first warned buyers on Dec. 22.
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December 30th, 2008
YIKES! I almost bought this frame…. oh my oh my. What an unlucky Christmas some people will have. Best to go wireless with these guys-technology is going crazy…http://snurl.com/98odw