A number of Samsung S8500 Wave smartphones have reportedly shipped with a malware-infected memory card.
According to Sophos security expert Graham Cluley, the malware is automatically activated when the card is plugged into a Windows machine.
“If you haven’t configured your Windows computer to ignore the autorun command, then when you plug the card into your PC the malicious slmsrv.exe file will be executed,” Cluley explained in a blog post.
“The tell-tale sign of infection is the existence of the aUtoRuN.iNF and slmsrv.exe files on the microSD card.”
Samsung confirmed that an “initial production run” of the S8500 Wave devices for the German market shipped with infected 1GB microSD memory cards, but insisted future shipments would be “virus free.”
Nevertheless, Cluley recommended that all devices and cards be scanned before they are plugged into a computer – even if they have been “freshly” purchased from a reputable vendor.
“In the past, other consumer gadgets to have been infected by malware include TomTom satellite navigation devices and Apple Video iPods. [And] in 2006, the Japanese subsidiary of McDonald’s recalled 10,000 MP3 players after discovering that they had been infected by a spyware Trojan horse.”
