New computer ships with WoW account-stealing software

May 24, 7:02 AMGame News ExaminerDaniel Landis

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A brand new computer shipped out the door with factory-installed software designed to steal World of WarCraft (and presumably any other online game) account information.

In addition to a worm that spread through USB devices, a rootkit and password-stealing program were discovered festering within the freshly opened package.

The M&A Companion Touch, a mini-tablet PC designed for students, had been updated with the latest drivers at the factory prior to shipping out to retail.  The USB device used for the updates was apparently the culprit, inadvertently spreading the evil programs to an unknown number of PCs before it was discovered.

The purchaser of the new PC had luckily scanned it prior to connecting to the Internet, discovering and destroying the malware before it could do any real harm (other than to M&A's reputation).  The company has not yet commented on the situation.

No World of WarCraft accounts were harmed in the making of this article... as far as we know.

Source:  Kaspersky Lab