Aldi sells hard drives with malware inside

Aldi has confirmed that one of the products it has stocked in its stores contains malware.

The device infected with the Conficker worm. (Screenshot by Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

The Australian Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) released an alert yesterday on the Federal Government's Stay Smart Online alert service, alleging that the Fission External 4-in-1 Hard Drive, DVD, USB and Card Reader product offered by Aldi contains the components of the "Conficker" worm.

Aldi told ZDNet Australia that the worm was limited to a small number of the devices and said that it has removed the product from all of its stores and has issued a voluntary public recall of products already purchased.

AusCERT advised customers who have already purchased the device to format the hard drive and scan their computer for infection using up-to-date antivirus software. In a separate advisory, AusCERT said that as the worm was extremely old, emerging in August 2008, most systems should be able to detect it if they have antivirus software installed.

Aldi confirmed that a full reformat of the device's hard drive would remove the worm. At the time of writing, the device still appeared on Aldi's online listing of products available.

The worm, also known as Downup, Downadup and Kido, had a high profile during its peak, infecting ANZ Bank and RailCorp in 2009.