Big W acts on photo kiosk viruses

Woolworths has confirmed that a "small number" of self-serve photo kiosks in its Big W stores have been exposed to malware.

"In a small number of cases we have detected isolated viruses which have been introduced to the machines through a customer's USB device," Woolworths said in a statement to ZDNet Australia.

Security publication Risky.biz reported that a customer's USB key had been infected, attributing the infection to Big W's photo kiosks. ZDNet Australia contacted the customer, Queensland IT professional Morgan Storey, who confirmed that his USB key was infected after his wife visited Big W's Mount Gravatt store last Monday to print photographs using one of the photo kiosks.

Storey said that he received the USB key back from his wife last Tuesday, only to discover it had been infected with a virus.

Nationally, Big W has 1800 photo kiosks, parent company Woolworths said in a statement. It said that there was a "very low risk" of viruses spreading via its photo kiosks, but it was now "working closely" with its partner, Fujifilm, to test and roll out appropriate antivirus software.

"We are already testing antivirus software in several stores and will begin rolling this out nationally in the coming months," it said.

In the meantime, it said customers could further reduce the "already minimal" risk by "avoiding USB sticks and instead using CDs, DVDs and memory cards when at a photo kiosk".