Topic: iPod and virus scanning?

Greetings. I have an iPod and I listen to it in the car so it goes to work with me. The other day I came hope and plugged it up to my home computer and it said there was an "autorun" file, do I want to run it. I clicked "Cancel" and had a look.

There was an autorun.inf file and a RECYLER directory. Inside the directory was a file called jwgkvsq.vmx. Looking through Google, it seems this could be the Conflicker Virus. It had to come from my work computer. I don't have but a few tracks of music on it that I ripped from my CD's. Most of what is on there are podcasts. When I delete the files and reboot the ipod, they are gone. This only happens when I take the ipod to work and plug it up to my work computer.

Now that you have more info than you probably need, is it safe to run a virus scan on this thing? I would imagine it is since it's a hard drive. I have heard that it is not recomended though.

I am going to test it tomorrow by not plugging it up to my work computer and seeing what happens when I come home.

Thanks in advance!

Later,

C:\

I shouldn't think there's much risk involved. The files and their formats on the iPod will generally be alien to your antivirus software (I'm presuming MS/Win based), so it should only be familiar malware that gets blitzed. Heuristics might provide a false positive somewhere, but any action could be refused at your discretion, I'm sure.

If you're worried about it, make sure to do backup of the iPod (through iTunes, if the option is available for your iPod model) before running a comprehensive scan.

I would strongly recommend giving the office machine a good once-over. Whatever you do, if this PC is the culprit, you'll just end up repeatedly re-infecting otherwise.

White Hawk, my work computer is Windows based yes. At home I run Linux so I am not too worried there.
I can move the files off and then reformat but I'll have to take it to a friends computer or something to hook it up to iTunes to reformat it. I have it RockBoxed so I can put all that back together if need be.

Thanks for the info.

Later,

C:\

Pardon me for not asking already, but which iPod do you have?

I apologize for not telling It's the iPod video Gen 5 30 gig.

I did clean up my work computer though. It was registered 3 times on this computer. I am not sure how it got to my computer though. It must have came through the network via someone's thumb drive. From what I've read this virus (DownandUp / Conficker) likes jump drives which is why it was on my iPod.

I don't download anything on my work computer and I certainly don't go to questionable websites. As for the websites, there are a lot that are blocked with the IGSA filtering. I am sure that someone brought it from a clients computer or home. We use usb drives a lot here so I am sure that's where it came from.

Thanks.

Later,

C:\

Yup - you can be as careful as you like, but there are always ways...

I was preparing a box-load of Samsung digital photo frames as gifts for some clients just before Christmas, and I was shocked to discover that a handful of them were infected with a virus! They had internal storage that should have been mostly blank but for the demo photos, as shipped from the factory (packed, sealed, and completely untouched by any other hands). I wrote to Samsung about the fact that they were selling products pre-infected with a nasty worm, but I haven't heard back from them.

I can't remember what the infection was, but it relied on the user being daft enough to allow the autorun... which of course, I never do (under any circumstances, for anything, ever). I can only assume that whatever machine they used for transfering the demo images to the internal flash must have been infected, and can only wonder at how many people have been unknowingly infected by factory-sealed products.

Just a week ago a co-worker of mine also discovered a Trojan from a brand new digital picture frame that he bought. Not Samsung tho. Pretty weird stuff.

pre pwned by factory...

I am thankful every day that I go home that I run Linux Until the day that it become more popular as a desktop and people start writing viri for it.

Later,

C:\