A virtual firestorm erupted this week over purported keylogger software in a brand new laptop, discovered by Mohamed Hassan, a certified security professional (CISSP, CISA). The news was first reported on Network World, and had Samsung executives scrambling to disprove the notion that brand-new Samsung machines are infected with malware.

To summarize what transpired, Hassan says he first discovered the potent commercial keylogger StarLogger on two Samsung laptops that he purchased (The first one was returned). A few phone calls and an escalated case eventually saw a support supervisor confirming the presence of the software which was used ostensibly to "monitor the performance of the machine and to find out how it is being used." Three separate attempts to contact public relations officers did not yield a response, leading to the publication of the damning report.

Well, it has since emerged that the entire case was simply the result of a false-positive detected by antimalware software--in this case VIPRE by Sunbelt Software. You can read the details in a blog entry published on GFI Lab Blog here--Sunbelt Software was acquired by GFI in July 2010. Alex Eckelberry, general manager of GFI Security said in an interview with Computerworld: "We just fell on our sword on this...It's just mud on our face." For all the embarassment this has caused, I think there are a number of lessons we can learn from this debacle, which I outline in today's commentary.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Network World
- check out this article at Computerworld 
- check out this article at GFI Labs Blog

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