Everyone is pretty much knows that malware can come from various digital sources such as web pages and email, but have you ever thought about malware coming from other consumer electronics?  Granted, there is the whole realm of mobile malware and the like, but there have been reports stating that photo frames (those picture frames that you can buy from places like Best Buy that allow you to put all your digital images on them) have tried to install malware onto computers.  Could this be a new trend that we will have to watch out for?  I know I would hate to develop a habit of not trusting any consumer electronics I buy that plug into my computer from now on…

In the past month, at least three consumers have reported that photo frames — small flat-panel displays for displaying digital images — received over the holidays attempted to install malicious code on their computer systems, according to the Internet Storm Center, a network-threat monitoring group. Each case involved the same product and the same chain of stores, suggesting that the electronic systems were infected at the factory or somewhere during shipping, said Marcus Sachs, who volunteers as the director of the Internet Storm Center.

“When (the first incident) pops up, we thought it might be someone that was infected and blamed it on the digital picture frame,” Sachs said. “But this is malware — and malware that does not seem to be very well detected. You could plug in a device and infect yourself with something that you would never know you had.”[more]

Tags: Malware