Alan Calder on IT Governance, information security & ISO 27001

Following the news a while ago that some Apple iPods had been shipped complete with a malware infection comes the story that your satnav system may also be a risk. TomTom has allegedly shipped devices that contain a Trojan virus that can jump to an owner’s PC when the two are connected. Happily, there’s no suggestion that this creates hazards for drivers on the road, but it clearly generates a most unwelcome intrusion when they get home. With consumer electronics so integral to our lives paying customers should expect – and will soon demand – that manufacturers have such vulnerabilities locked down. I predict that not long from now ISO 27001 will become a far more mainstream concept.

I have written before about the need to prevent viruses entering a corporate system via employees’ thumb drives, and that the profusion of portable storage devices makes this a priority for businesses. Now SC Magazine reports that a number of Apple’s Video iPods have been discovered to be carrying the Windows virus RavMonE.exe. I see that Apple is not ISO27001-certified. Perhaps, if it were, this wouldn’t have happened.