Best Buy Insignia Digital Picture Frames Can Infect Customers with Virus, are Recalled   1/29/2008 - 1,004 views,

You know that you live in the 21st century when your picture frame can give your computer a virus. It sounds like something out of science fiction, but it’s true. The SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute has said this week that Best Buy’s Insignia brand digital picture frame can infect Best Buy customers’ PCs with what it is terming “an older computer virus.” Best Buy is now recalling the picture frames.

The model known to be affected is the Insignia 10.4″ frame, model #NS-DPF10A.

Said a statement from Best Buy:

“It recently came to our attention that a limited number of Insignia 10.4” digital picture frames (model number NS-DPF-10A) were contaminated with a computer virus during the manufacturing process. Once informed, we immediately pulled all units of this product from stores and retail web sites as a precautionary measure to protect our customers. This product has been discontinued, and no additional inventory will be sold. Please note that no other Insignia digital picture frame products are affected by this issue.

However, some affected units were purchased at a Best Buy store or from www.bestbuy.com before the issue was detected. While this is an older virus which is easily identified and removed by current anti -virus software, we are taking this situation seriously. We apologize for the inconvenience that has been caused as a result of this incident.

Customers who have purchased this product should be aware of the following facts:

- Not every digital picture frame is contaminated by the virus.

- If you have not connected the digital picture frame to your computer, then your computer will not have been infected by a virus from the digital picture frame.

- If your computer has correctly installed anti-virus software, such as Norton, McAfee or Trend Micro with up-to-date virus profiles, you can plug your digital picture frame into your computer using the supplied USB cable, and your computer’s anti-virus software will remove any virus detected on your digital picture frame.

- Cameras, USB flash drives and all types of memory cards cannot be infected by the virus by connecting them to or inserting them in the digital picture frame.

- This virus can only affect Windows operating systems. If your computer runs on another operating system, such as Apple OS X or Linux, your computer cannot be infected by this virus.

If you do not have up-to-date anti-virus software, or if you have any questions about your digital picture frame, please call Insignia customer care at 1-877-467-4289.

An Insignia representative will be available to answer questions about your digital picture frame and determine what actions are necessary to ensure your digital picture frame and computer are clean and fully functional.

This situation is not characteristic of Insignia products. We have launched an investigation and will take the actions necessary to help ensure that a situation like this is not repeated. We highly value our customers and are committed to providing quality products and complete customer satisfaction.
Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”