IBM Sent Off USB Sticks Infected with Malware

May 1, 2017

2 minute read

A new warning has been issued by IBM and the situation seems to be rather serious. According to the firm, there are a number of infected USB sticks out there with some very dangerous malware. The USB sticks in question were shipped with Storwize flash and they have hybrid storage systems. IBM suggests destroying the USB sticks immediately. Otherwise, your device can be infected with malware making the system vulnerable.

Apparently, the infected USB sticks contain a tool used for Storwize systems and it is the tool that was infected with malicious code, as unveiled by the IBM. The infected models include drives that have part number 01AC585 and that were shipped with Storwize V3500, V3700, and V5000 Generation 1 storage systems.

When it comes to dealing with the infected device, the vendor recommended that users should first update their antivirus and then try to use the USB drive. It is also recommended to not to use the drive again and to destroy it, in order to cease the infection via the USB sticks.

Security company Trend Micro’s antivirus detected the malware as PE.WINDEX.A and claimed that it was served up by one of the North Korean websites. Other vendors have also been able to detect this malware, but they classified it as a Trojan that would attempt downloading other malware if executed.

IBM also stated that the malware/Trojan was not executed during the Storwize initialisation.

However, for those who do not wish to do so, IBM strongly recommends deletion of the malicious files and to complete reinstall the Storwize initialization package. After that, the users should scan the code with their updated antivirus and hopefully, that should be enough to deal with the malware that’s infecting the drive.

An alert concerning these infected USB drives was also issued by a Chinese PC giant called Lenovo. IBM has originally manufactured equipment that had Storwize systems for this very company, so it’s not strange that they would decide to include this warning as well.

This is another situation where an updated antivirus could be of huge help to the users, and they’re advised once again to update their software regularly, especially when malware are being sent off in every direction lately.

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