Bug invades TomTom GPS units

A Trojan that attacks GPS devices sounds like the stuff of security nightmares. But this week, it happened, as GPS vendor TomTom confessed that all the GO910 GPS receivers produced during one week in October had been shipped with a virus aboard.

The Trojan, Backdoor.Win32.Small.io, exploits the Windows Autorun function to initiate other malware on the gadget once the GPS is connected to a PC or other computing device running Microsoft Windows.

The problem became known after a user who bought a brand new GPS connected it to a PC, where antivirus software detected the presence of win32.Pervloga.A and TR/DropSmall.qp.

According to Kaspersky Labs, detection rules for the malware have been available since June 2006, so users with updated antivirus software ought to be safe.

TomTom’s advice to users is to scan the device’s hard disk with their antivirus application and remove the infection.