Digital Picture Frames Infected by Trojan Viruses

CR0WTR0B0T writes "The San Francisco Chronicle is running a story on viruses loaded into digital picture frames, similar to the ones we discussed at the end of last year. The difference is in the virus used: 'The authors of the new Trojan Horse are well-funded professionals whose malware has 'specific designs to capture something and not leave traces ... This would be a nuclear bomb of malware.' Apparently, a number of regular folks have hooked them up to their home computer and loaded the virus. And if you think you're too smart to be fooled, apparently the Anti-Virus software makers have not caught up to the threat quite yet."

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Be Safe: Roll Your Own DPF

[wehe]

Do you want to be on the safe side and have some fun, too? Just make your custom DPF and install Linux on it. Here are some DIY instructions to make a digital picture frame from an old laptop or notebook [repair4laptop.org]. And here is a survey of Linux used on selfmade digital photo frames [tuxmobil.org]

Re:Where is the question ...

[Anonymous Coward]

-noun, plural -ruses. virii is not a word, and you are an idiot

Re:Well...

[Anonymous Coward]

The picture itself in not a virus, rather it becomes one when the malformed image causes some type of overflow /exploit to the program that renders that picture
, so not having something run auomatioally doesn't really matter, when you do open the picture it Runs by exploiting a flaw in the program that renders it. whether it starts automatically or not is of less relevance.

This fact isn't being made very clear in this forum or the document.
  Pictures are not viruses they ar caused to become one on very specific software that render them .
EX: The same image when viewed or if even viewable on different rendering software will have no effect .

Switch off autorun already, huh?

[sw155kn1f3]

It's the first thing I do when installed fresh copy of windows. I do this with TweakUI XP - it's download at MS site. Very handy little tool to make initial tuning.

Re:Nuclear bomb of malware?

[CR0WTR0B0T]

There were 1.7 million sold in the United States in 2006 [gizmag.com]. These are bought by people that just want to show some pictures they took with their digital camera without having to dedicate a computer to the job. Black Friday was loaded with ads for picture frames for around $70. Given the price point, it was an attractive Christmas gift to give to anyone who may not be computer savvy. PC Magazine is predicting [pcmag.com] that these digital frames will become smarter to give non-computer users more capability like Video streams and tablet PC functionality. The virus problem could become much larger as we get more and more devices that are preloaded with "easy to use" software.

NoDriveTypeAutorun

[WD]

You'll want to set the NoDriveTypeAutorun [microsoft.com] registry value in HKLM to 0xFF. This will disable Autorun/Autoplay for all device types. What's interesting, though, is that according to that article, the default configuration for Windows is to disable Autorun for removable disks that aren't "CD" devices. What's not clear is whether this digital picture frame actually does automatically run, or whether it requires the user to double-click on the device icon in Windows explorer. (The latter of which will run software on the frame, regardless of AutoRun settings).

However, if your goal is to make a change that is malware-resistant, forget it! If you've already got malicious code on your system, it's game over. It can make any software changes that it likes.

Re:Of course I'm safe!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because something is true doesn't mean you're not picking a fight. For instance, if someone were to call you a jackass it would be true, but would also likely lead to flames.

Too smart to be fooled?

[cbiltcliffe]

And if you think you're too smart to be fooled, apparently the Anti-Virus software makers have not caught up to the threat quite yet.

That doesn't bother me in the least, as I haven't run any antivirus software for going on 5 years, now. That includes on my Windows machines (and yes, I run as administrator). I've never been infected with anything, either.

There's a few simple rules that you can follow to do this yourself:

1. Hardware router. I personally use pfSense, due to the necessary complexity of my home network, considering that I run my computer service business out of my home. Any consumer router will work, though, as long as it's got UPnP turned off, and the password's been changed.
2. Never, ever, ever plug an untrusted computer into your trusted network. See my point number 1. Customer machines are plugged into a completely separate subnet that is firewalled off from my trusted network.
3. Turn off everything like autorun, automatically find network shares, etc.
4. Secure your wireless. Mine's open, but it's even firewalled from my untrusted network. Use WPA-PSK, with a password that looks like this: awdfvA@#F54q2a3A#% Don't even think about using WEP. I've broken it in less than 30 minutes, and the longest it's ever taken me is 45. If you're wireless devices won't support WPA, replace them, or upgrade the wireless. A Startech PCMCIA card that supports WPA is only about $55 retail, so there's really no excuse.
5. Don't be a moron, and click on anything someone sends you. Even if you think they're really computer savvy. Even if you know they have functional antivirus software.
6. Anything that's of even remotely questionable trustworthiness, scan with an online scanner. But don't do it right away. Wait a week or two, then scan it, then run it. This is what I do with things like program cracks that people seem to get hosed with all the time. Download it from P2P, then let it sit for a week or so. Then scan it. If it's fine then, you're probably OK.

Some people tell me I'm paranoid, and they're probably right. But there are two people in the world that I know of that have never had a virus. Myself, and Bill Gates. And I'm sure Bill Gates probably runs antivirus software to prevent it.