Written by Peter Murphy on Monday, March 17, 2008

Pre-loaded extras, you wouldn’t want for free!

Quite a while ago I found a post about something, I wouldn’t wish on any one.
The whole idea of getting something for nothing is a huge draw card in marketing, but many recent reports seem to tell us to be more aware of what we are getting for nothing.
Many device users complain about "extra appendages", read bloatware, supplied by service providers, in branded contract devices, but that only seems to be the tip of the iceberg at the moment.
It was less than a month ago when I posted about a trojan targeting Windows Mobile, "InfoJack", that came bundled and camouflaged in a package that most of us with the "impervious OS" would not think to check. Software threats, most of us seem to expect, but what if the attacks come not from your device software, directly? but from the components, your device manufacturer outsources?
At this point I’d say, I hope the kids aren’t looking over your shoulder!

So there were reports of zunes coming preloaded with pornography, pre Christmas, that should have sent up signal flares. More and more we are seeing corrupted devices, because of corrupted components. Jenneth over at Gear Diary. reminded me of this issue today, with her post, quoting what I consider a Local Source. It really brings up a major question, do we trust the device manufacturers, or do we have to know where they get their parts from?. And then before you know it there’s the newton virus