Samsung laptops have keylogging rootkits installed at the factory

asim18 · 31 Mar 2011 at 06:01

Our house is jam packed with Samsung stuff. They must even know what hand I masturbate with!

robgmun · 31 Mar 2011 at 07:38

First thing i do when i get a new laptop is to blast the hard drive and install my own W7 image. No questions

RabbiJacob · 31 Mar 2011 at 07:44

robgmun said:
First thing i do when i get a new laptop is to blast the hard drive and install my own W7 image. No questions

Yup, can't stand all the crap that comes installed with a laptop.

We have a lot of NC10's at work, they're imaged as soon as they come in but it'd be interesting to take a look at a new one before though.

Cosimo · 31 Mar 2011 at 07:51

asim18 said:
Our house is jam packed with Samsung stuff. They must even know what hand I masturbate with!

I wouldn't worry as that is common knowledge.

therutz · 31 Mar 2011 at 08:01

thats really quite worrying

mrbios · 31 Mar 2011 at 08:34

Update: Fortunately the answer appears to be no. It appears this was all a misunderstanding. Samsung has issued a statement saying the confusion was derived from the installation of the Microsoft Live! application suite. When the Slovakian language is installed it creates a folder called C:\Windows\SL which is the same folder name as is used by the StarLogger application.

godinman · 31 Mar 2011 at 08:38

It was all just research for a book, honest.

Cosimo · 31 Mar 2011 at 08:47

godinman said:
It was all just research for a book, honest.

... and the publicity.

JamesU2005 · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:05

Thread can be closed then? If it's all a big "misunderstanding"?

Duke · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:07

Nothing like some extra traffic and advert clicks when you need them.

Wicksta · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:13

It's a shame the OP missed the question mark that is in the article headline he linked to.

Dunks · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:16

So he seen a folder called SL, claimed it was for "StarLogger", then faked Samsungs response? :|

Strife212 · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:17

Is that all? There was a folder called SL? :/

RabbiJacob · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:28

Cosimo · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:31

Wicksta said:
It's a shame the OP missed the question mark that is in the article headline he linked to.

"Reportedly" would have been better than a question mark.

Rainmaker · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:34

Wicksta said:
It's a shame the OP missed the question mark that is in the article headline he linked to.

First of all, I'm not entirely sure that question mark was there until the first update of their article. Secondly, I reported upon the report - if you read my OP I was quoting their article, not presenting it as fact myself. I even linked to both articles; hardly misleading.

I'm absolutely amazed that this has turned out to be a 'misunderstanding'. Slovakian WLM? The guy said he tested two brand new machines, and has directly quoted Samsung's incident support number as confirmation of their alleged practices, as well as their alleged admission. He's in for some major raping once Samsung take him to court then, as his blog still has the original unadulterated stories up.

As for attracting clicks and footfall though, I doubt Sophos blog (one of the biggest, award-winning enterprise security companies) need the traffic. They don't sell to the public anyway.

We'll see how this develops, it's gonna bite someone in the backside one way or the other.

mrk · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:34

So this is actually.....bum news?

Cosimo · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:41

Khaaan! said:
So this is actually.....bum news?

Most probably, read the links.

mrk · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:42

I did. But I don't trust all news "sources".

So why would I trust a forum poster isntead, hmm that is indeed the question...

Cosimo · 31 Mar 2011 at 09:49

Khaaan! said:
I did. But I don't trust all news "sources".

So why would I trust a forum poster isntead, hmm that is indeed the question...

The question was whether it was bum news, you got your answer.