Mouse-Maker Razer Hacked, Firmware Infected
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Firmware, Razer, Hacked, Trojan, Drivers | Themes: The Internet, Software, Digital Entertainment
Consumers who downloaded drivers from Razer USA got a bonus surprise.
Is there anything--heck anywhere--safe on the Internet anymore? Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro is claiming that PC accessory maker Razer USA was recently infected with a Trojan horse, thus infecting drivers stored on its support servers. After downloading and examining eight infected drivers, Trend Micro contacted the company and the files were thus removed from the site.
Unfortunately, many customers already downloaded the infected files. Ferguson told ITworld that consumers not only retrieved the requested drivers, but the WORM.ASPXOR.AB Trojan program as well. The malware is rather obscure, with only 7 out of 41 vendors offering generic detection. Because Razer USA's peripherals are mostly geared toward gamers, they are more at risk because they tend to disable antivirus protection to gain more system resources.
Currently Razer USA has no clue as to how the downloads were infected. As of Monday afternoon, the company's main website was still up and running, however the customer support website was yanked offline while Razer USA and Trend Micro investigated the source of the infection. "Woops," read the support page. "We had to bring down Razer Support for the time being for a quick fix."
Ferguson said that the malicious Trojans were crawling on Razer USA's website for a few days prior to his involvement based on comments from concerned customers. As of today the support page has returned online, however Razer USA provides links to online virus scanners for anyone who downloaded the infected drivers here.
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Wow.... this is a new level of infection. What's next?
Great glad I just bought their mouspad... unless...
Firmware Infected? Since when are drivers considered firmware updates?
This is why I am a Logitech man.
Firmware Infected? Since when are drivers considered firmware updates?
FYI, the Razer Copperhead,etc has Firmware updates available and the firmware update files were also infected apparently, not just the drivers.
See: http://www2.razerzone.com/MouseGui [...] re/18.html
Yes, they do have firmware that you can update.
This is why I am a Logitech man.
They could just as easily have the same problem as Razor so don't hold your breath. One misconfigured router or missing system update is all it takes. Or just one lazy sys admin, or a persistent hacker or disgruntled employee or...the list goes on.
Well I hope they don't go after the MX Revolution next
any hole that is open they will attack it!i'm not suprised!
Well I hope they don't go after the MX Revolution next
Exactly. I'm more worried about DNS cache poisoning and forwarders pointing to a duplicate/false site than the original site going down.
I always knew Razer was a cheap company.
Imagine the world where someone infects the RTM golden disk of Windows 7... And nobody spots it for few months...
The biggest botnet ever!
muauuaahahahahahah!
Imagine the world where someone infects the RTM golden disk of Windows 7... And nobody spots it for few months... The biggest botnet ever!muauuaahahahahahah!
You mean the one I'm about to participate in?
YAY!
Fuck razer, expsnive shit.
Firmware Infected? Since when are drivers considered firmware updates?
Apparently you don't understand that nearly all PC hardware also comes with a firmware...
A lot of mice just don't let you upgrade it.
"Because Razer USA's peripherals are mostly geared toward gamers, they are more at risk because they tend to disable antivirus protection to gain more system resources."
Say what? Never heard of any gamers do this. Sounds like a dumb idea and I have been an avid PC gamer for over a decade. Just overclock your graphics card ppl.
"Because Razer USA's peripherals are mostly geared toward gamers, they are more at risk because they tend to disable antivirus protection to gain more system resources."Say what? Never heard of any gamers do this. Sounds like a dumb idea and I have been an avid PC gamer for over a decade. Just overclock your graphics card ppl.
Tons of online FPS players do this. They do anything and everything to get an edge, including myself.
Tons of online FPS players do this. They do anything and everything to get an edge, including myself.
Speak for yourself, I know no one who does that. Then again their computers aren't POS.
lol, or you could just get an antivirus that doesnt use a bunch of system resources. I challenge anyone with a computer bought in the past 5 years to be able to tell whether or not eset nod32 is running in the background while playing any game. I'm on a 1.6ghz atom netbook atm, and its using a whopping 2mb of ram and 0% cpu and takes a whole 2-3 seconds to boot, so i don't think disabling it would give any gamer any sort of "edge".
Razer makes great gaming mice, love my Diamondback. Good think I updated my a few months back, before this hit. And I don't disable my AV when I game, not a bright idea.
I purchased a Razer mouse and keyboard to "try them out"
within 2 days the keyboard broke, and the mouse wheel broke off after a few months. The glider pads also wore off.
They have a big american flag on the box for the keyboard
What I didn't notice is instead of saying "made in the usa" under it, it says "made for the usa"
btw if you speak spanish they are hiring 1 north american sales rep ....
I now have an HP mouse. (yeah they make mice now)
I've owned several Razer mice and wouldn't game without one...so this sucks. Thankfully it's also been a long time since I last updated drivers, but I'd be curious how far back this "infection" goes? I didn't see a time frame...
And btw, my rig is about average (by today's standards) and I still have never used anti-virus programs on it, and knock-on-wood, I've been fine. If things happen to go south, it's no big deal to format and reinstall. I'd still rather have as much CPU and RAM at my disposal. But I know people in both camps...it's all personal choice and comfort level.