Vodafone Spain replacing microSD cards on 3,000 virus-infected handsets
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 19th 2010 1:49PM
posted March 19th 2010 1:49PM
It looks like the virus-strewn HTC Magic that was recently purchased from Vodafone UK is only the tip of the iceberg. According to Vodafone Spain, some 3,000 users in all may have been exposed to Mariposa malware -- which used the handset's storage to make its way to customer's PCs via USB, leading the company to replace the microSD cards for infected customers. The company also says that the incident is "isolated and local," but with the number of infections rising from one in the UK to 3,000 in Spain in just over a week we wouldn't be surprised this story was just heating up.
Malware on Android or on WM?
@kyphem Not on either: it infects PC's. I call it the "rhemora method". The malware piggybacks on the MicroSD storage so the next time you hook up to a PC, it gets hit. Oh Vodafone...
@N900 Oh yea! thank you I remember having this similar issue with my camera after I used it on a friends PC. Almost all my flash cards got infected that time.
Sounds like a problem at the supplier level.
It may "only" be 3,000, but if you're one of them, it's 100% for you.
@joelaf Were 3 separate comments really necessary?
Remember the spate of kids talking toys that contained obscenities? That turned out to be an inside job.
also like the digi photo frames a while back too
This is what happen in open source.
I read somewhere recently that malware/virus writers are targeting USB devices more often now.
Did Vodafone infect the cards purposefully? Why are they responsible for replacing them?
autorun : off : default on Win7, it's XP that we need to worry about
@inertone
A couple years ago, apple released ipods with viruses, similar to what happened to this story. After apple found out about it, instead of apoligizing, they decided that it would be a perfect time to bash Windows for not being more virus-proof.
@dooglehead well, to be accurate, it was one of their Chinese manufacturers that had a virus on the assembly line computer.
@hated one
Well well well, if it isn't Truth, aka Word, aka Logic Thinker. Haven't seen you around in a while, but I could recognize your comment anywhere.
@nitrous9200
That would be correct.
http://www.apple.com/support/windowsvirus/
I had to turn in my HTC Tattoo because it fried my MicroSD cards (works now though). Could that be related to this?
am i the only one that read "pEumd"?
Folks... This is why some of us choose not to use Windows. In the country I'm currently living in, Windows malware on mobile phones, cameras and memory sticks is an all too common occurrence.
@hated one
HTC Gorilla glass or iPhone tempered (read: breaks if you drop it) glass
Do your research