Someone (probably the NSA) has been hiding viruses in hard drive firmware

The NSA may be hiding payloads in the firmware of consumer hard drives, according to a new report from Kaspersky Lab. The report tracks a group that researchers have dubbed "Equation," which uses previously undiscovered methods to plant targeted malware in hard drive firmware, where it is difficult to detect or remove. The report found exploits for hard drives made by many of the largest brands in the industry, including Samsung, Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, Toshiba and Hitachi. The group is closely tied to Stuxnet, using many overlapping vulnerabilities and techniques over the same time period, and those similarities combined with previously published NSA hard drive exploits have led many to speculate that Encounter may be part of the NSA.

via Tech News Headlines - Yahoo News http://ift.tt/1CBUfsm