Last week, we reported on a red MP3 player whose proceeds go to help people suffering from infectious diseases. Now we have a story about a red MP3 player that comes with its own infection.
McDonalds Japan has launched a recall after discovering that MP3
players it offered as a prize were loaded with a particularly nasty
strain of malware. Up to 10,000 people might have been exposed to the
problem after claiming a Flash MP3 player pre-loaded with ten tunes and
a variant of the QQpass spyware Trojan.
“QQPass” is the name given to a family of trojans that capture password information and transmit it to a third party. It is believed that a machine contaminated with this malware was used in the process of filling the MP3 players with music.
If you can read Japanese, this page will provide the number of a help line you can call for details about returning your McPod and removing the trojan. If you can't, you'll find this Babelfish translation of the page amusing. A snippet:
As for this prize the marketing store corporation (Hong Kong) from it is something which is delivered. Concerning the cause of infection, presently it is in the midst of investigating. Being placed on the customer, very much, you say and do not divide, apologize deeply. As in the future similar thing does not occur, it starts strengthening company internal system more.